Cranky Dog's page

Too risky, I'm imposing a new rule where all paladins are required to get fixed at their nearest vet temple. Also, they'll need ranks in Perform (Boy's Choir).

More seriously, unless the paladin's deity specifically calls for celibacy, there should be no problem.

In many mythologies, gods have lots of sex with mortals. They don't go and smite or punish their lovers afterwards. The gods themselves often have looser morals than the mortals.

However, if this half-god is not on the paladin's deity's approved list (Thou shall not fraternize with that tramp/hoodlum), there might be a conflict of interest.

Golarion goblins started to make sense to me as soon as I imagined them as evil Muppets.

Their style of evil is very impish in nature.

Of course I would, and I have.

A lot of RPGs don't mechanics for races or classes like PF/D&D, yet my group has always managed to have fun, even if we were "mere" humans with a bit of training. We might start off looking pretty similar in abilities, but the characters grow and become as unique as anything else in PF.

A good GM is as much a part of the game as the rules themselves, and I find that the story weaved is much more interesting than the size of the bonus on my character sheet. Sometimes KISS works remarkably well, and narrative trumps simulationism.

Note the components bit[and lack of a cost]. The runes themselves are free. So, since you are supposedly casting this on sheets of paper, 1000 costs 400gp[4sp a piece]. Halve that if you settle for parchment.

Have you no imagination?

He *obviously* uses a single large sheet of paper, enlarges it, then polymorphs himself into an Elder Witchlight (Tome of Horrors 4) which is a Fine size fey, then casts Reduce Person on himself to be ridiculously small, and then proceeds into casting and inscribing explosive runes at microscopic scale.

So you end up with a sheet filled with dot sized explosive runes. It doesn't matter if they're too small to read since they only exist to be badly dispelled.

He could even "connect the dots" into a drawing of himself flipping the bird at the GM Cthulhu.

Extra detail we haven't covered yet: Greater Dispel Magic's range.

Spell range is 100ft + 10ft/lvl
Nalfeshnee's CL: 12th
Max range: 220ft (240ft if you include the Area of Effect's 20ft radius).
Cthulhu's distance: 300ft (from center position of Cthulhu)

There's 60ft missing somewhere (80ft-20ft size from center of Cthulhu)

I just had a thought. Has anyone considered the idea that Cthulu casts mythic version of his spells?

You mean like his Mythic AT WILL Control Weather that will guarantee there's a 4 mile wide storm surrounding him 24/7 that will blow away any paper runes the very instant they're not in a Timestop?

Any effect on visibility and ease of travel to people hanging around at 300ft?

Also, Cthulhu is usually depicted as favoring aquatic environments. Are the runes water proof?

What am I saying. Of course Anzyr already thought of everything. It's *so* simple. Everyone does it. Haven't you been reading? Use your head!

The runes are obviously written on hundreds of tiny steamships.

BTW, what does Cthulhu do during all this time before the Almighty-Wizard-Who-Always-Has-Everything-Perfectly-Prepared arrives? Fiddle his thumbs tentacles or prepare something nasty?

Ultimately, do we have a lazy GM or not?

Hey you got your ranger in my druid! You got your druid in my ranger!

"You got my attention!" barked the animal companion.

Also, Explosive Runes are permanent. What GM wouldn't let you stockpile them?

A DM that knows the trick and has a surprising amount of enemies who "poorly" cast Greater Dispel Magic at stockpiling wizards.

Step 9. Use Staff of the Master to Quicken Time Stop. Fly into range and toss out the individual runes (think it as "making it rain"). Move out of range.

About that bit.

Time Stop has a maximum of 5 rounds duration. Overland flight is 40ft/round, Big C's aura is 300ft... or a minimum of 7 rounds equivalent travel, and this isn't even counting the distance back. If you roll poorly on Time Stop, you'll get 2 rounds top.

A "safe" distance regarding Cthulhu is quite subjective. My choice of safe distance is "on another planet".

For now, I'm filing this spell in the "You don't abuse it as a player, I won't abuse it as a DM!" category.

@ Cranky Dog - This caster is hardly built solely to defeat Cthulhu. This is just typical level 20 Caster stuff. There's quite a few tactics listed and that's not even mentioning the actually overpowered stuff.

It's only typical if you built him to be a lvl 20 caster from the get go and give the absolute best goodies with no bad choices.

If you show me his organic evolution from lvl 1 to 20, there would be some levels where you'd wonder why he'd take that route at that specific moment. He's spending a big chunk of his build on bypassing spell resistance in a game where the vast majority of monsters don't have any SR to speak of and a huge part of his income on preparing Explosive Runes.

One important thing to keep in mind is that in the anime itself, Jojo and company are already the equivalent of high level characters with advanced "eidolons", or at the very least characters with high stats and maxed Intimidate.

From a PC point of view, it'll take a while to reach that level of awesomeness.

Also, concerning anime with summoner/eidolon themes, Shaman King is even closer in concept. From beginning to end, you see the growth of the character and spirit's powers.

Undead... hunger... human... cattle...

Welcome to Geb, we have all your unliving needs covered!

I've been a fan of semaphore tower lines for years.

It's the sort of non-magical communication that "modern" countries like Cheliax, Andoran and Taldor could have to link major settlements to their capitals along main routes.

It's the sort of communication device that would alert everyone along the way. And unless you have the codebook, the symbols could mean anything.

Now enhance the principle with magic (Silent Image FTW!) and you can have an early warning system that can quickly span a kingdom.

Re-reading the OP, for a king to communicate with heroes... use local spies who were contacted by magic or other means. Otherwise, use magic.

About evil undead:

It's not that being an undead creature type makes you automatically evil, it's more the fact that a lot of undead are created after doing something quite vile, distasteful and atrocious (without much regret) and just have the evil cling to them.

With that reasoning, I would also argue that undead spawn, those who become undead after being slain by a master-type undead (vampire, wight, etc.) will not be automatically evil (though still under control of a master). But often those undead are the "suck-the-life-out-of-everything-to-survive" kind that *eventually* turn evil.

Zark wrote:

Tels wrote:

Nah, Wayne Reynolds always draws weird feet. Go look at all of the other iconics, they've got weird feet.

Maybe he has got a shoe fetishism, or a feet fetishism? That would be cool :)

Regardless his art is awesome!

it may be as simple as he just can't draw feet

Considering the amount of details he puts into something he "can't" draw, I'm inclined to disagree.

I just say it's his "thing" that distinguishes it from other artists. Many artists have styles that are often instantaneously recognizable. Wayne Reynolds is well drawn small dainty pointy feet.

Rob Liefeld on the other hand is a case of foot phobia, a fear of body proportions, a love of intense frowny faces and big pouches.

I've decided of my version of the ending to this backstory:

It was as if he had expected such a visitor for many years, and knew that final judgment had finally arrived.

As he looked into the eyes of his quarry at last, fists clenched around the hilts of his hungry blades, Zadim made his choice.

Zadim charged the old man who quietly awaited his punishment with his arms open offering no resistance.

Zadim kicked him in the chest and the old paladin fell on his back.

As Jevantus closed his eyes and awaited the final strike, he felt the slice of two blades across his palms, the sudden warm dampness of his blood, almost without pain, and then silence but for the sound of his still beating heart.

He opened his eyes to see Zadim standing over him.

"In the name of Sarenrae, I declare that Gordreth Chrysolian of Yanmass — Gordreth the BUTCHER! — is dead and I have my blades stained in his blood as proof for my masters. And I have you Jevantus of Abadar as sole witness."

The paladin silently nodded.

Zadim slowly turned and walked away, fading into the darkness with his final words: "If by some happenstance the Butcher should return, so shall I. And there will be —no— witnesses."

My opinion on genre mixes in Golarion:

If we can have Maasai warriors wandering around with cell phones, or genuine Mongolian yurts with satellite dishes in real life, then stuff like Numeria doesn't even faze me as unbelievable.

They share that in common with vampires in some myths. Spill something, and the vampire will be compelled the count each and every one, thus allowing you to kill them with sunlight.

Wait, you're telling me that Sesame Street's Count Von Count counting obsession has basis on actual folklore?

[Looks up Wikipedia:Arithmomania] Wow!

Would it work? Sure, why not.

But you need someone to buy all those chains. Is there someone who really needs 4 miles of standard chain?

People will want shorter segments. People will want smaller/bigger size of links (I want it big enough to hold a castle; small enough for a fine necklace). Someone will have to cut it. What do you do with the rest of the unsold chain? Do the economics of supply/demand cause a crash in chain prices? Never mind the local chain making blacksmiths who's out of the job.

What would most likely happen is that a customer will want a specific length/size of chains, and each customer will require an individual casting. The leftover material being used for the next casting. So though the potential of 32000gp profit is there, it will be spread over a loooooong time.

Myths vary widely in how much a god perceives. In many they are beings who perceive what is around them like other beings unless they have specific powers like Heimdal's super senses. In others they look over mortal events and actions from afar and seem closer to having omniscience.

This goes along nicely with the classic concepts of "sacrifices before battles" to get a god's favor.

Since it seems the gods are preoccupied with countless things, mortals have to do little activities to draw attention upon themselves. The bigger or more valiant/despicable the activity, the more likely divine attention will be bared on them.

It also reminds me of many greek epic movies where the gods are "playing" with chess piece representations of the heroes in their miniature arena. Meanwhile, their attention is not on the rest of creation.

So in other terms you have a variant of a Leadership chain where your cohort takes Leadership, and his cohort takes Leadership and so on. Except that the "Zoo Crew" will be smellier. ;-)

And then you wonder why Leadership is often banned at certain tables?

Obligatory : "Tastes like chicken!"

Otherwise it's entirely your call. I'd say it tastes like something completely unexpected. It may be edible or it may be toxic (think fugu). It may be nutritious, or it may be very low cal. Different stones, different flavors, different edibility. And would mud count as gravy?

A geologist could have a lot of fun with this.

Thinking in game setting terms, dwarves or other races with stone affinity may already have used this method in lean times or spiritual reasons, and may have already cataloged all the nutritional values of stones.

PS: Calculated that a single casting, at maximum size (~70ft³ cylinder) gives you about 2 tons of flesh/food... and makes me think of portion sizes in the Flintstones.

In our last AP, my group started with XPs, but near the end we just stopped, it just slowed the game to tally them up all the time, and the APs have checkpoints to tell you when to expect to gain a level.

It also helped to stop the "Bribe the DM for XPs" jokes around the table.

Biomechanical Summoner - Eidlons are living things of spirit and flesh. But this summoner learns how to bypass these limitations and graft construct like forms around his bonded spirit companions.

Been thinking about the concept, but just for fun here are my archetype proposals:

Ironclad Summoner (variant synthesist): Basically Iron Man. A construct eidolon scifi power armor. Lots of superhero or anime/manga inspirations out there. Spell list modifications as with clockwork summoner.

Iron Blood Forger (variant alchemist): Rebuilds living or dead bodies with construct parts and powers them with infusions. Not always good for the target's sanity.

This argument keeps reminding me of a Robot Chicken segment concerning werewolves and silver bullets. NSFW

I repeat: NSFW! But OK for frat parties.

RAW vs RAI indeed.

Needs more mythic...

Quickly done using a lvl 10 marshal, you can add:
+1 mythic CHA bonus stat
+20 circumstance Display of Charisma tier 1 power
+5 Persuasive Countenance tier 1 power
+10 Demagogue tier 3 power
+2-16 Greater Surge tier 1 power
+2 mythic Persuasive feat
+10 mythic Rhetorical Flourish feat
+3 mythic Voice of Sybil feat
+20 insight bonus from Adroit (diplomacy) legendary item

Not all of them stack, but they are larger bonuses overall.

I see Disable Device as being three possibilities when a trap is discovered.

1- Bypass the trap completely, leaving it intact.
2- Sabotage the trap, making it unusable.
3- Spring the trap from a safe location.

Say for example you find some trapped tiles on the floor:
1- "Guys! Step over here, then over there and we'll be safe,"
2- "Guys! I'm gonna put a plank over these tiles so they won't trigger."
3a- "Guys! Hang me that 10ft pole, I'm going to poke these tiles from afar."
3b- "Yo wizard, summon a critter to walk on that spot while we step way back."

Different traps will have different methods to avoid them. A proper Disable Device roll will tell your options.

Further: is there any other ability in the game that states a creature is "immune to grapple" that would not be a mythic source? I'm honestly asking - I can't think of any (a few creatures that would be immune to trip, but not to grapple); hence, outside of this effect or something exceedingly similar (similar enough that it's akin to parsing Weapon Proficiency feat v. Weapon Proficiency class feature being an empty gesture), the wording would otherwise be effectively worthless.

I was wondering this, until I remembered incorporeal creatures.

From the PRD:
Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled.

Do we count this as "immune to grapple" or "grapple not applicable" like tripping a flying creature?

I'd go with "not applicable" because there are already ghost touch and other powers that can remove/bypass that specific ability. Though with augmented Black Tentacles, having the ghost touch ability would be a nice effect.

Now onto Magic Jar. First the full description:
School necromancy; Level sorcerer/wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a gem or crystal worth at least 100 gp)
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level or until you return to your body
Saving Throw Will negates; see text; Spell Resistance yes

If the spell ends while you are in the magic jar, you return to your body (or die if your body is out of range or destroyed). If the spell ends while you are in a host, you return to your body (or die, if it is out of range of your current position), and the soul in the magic jar returns to its body (or dies if it is out of range). Destroying the receptacle ends the spell, and the spell can be dispelled at either the magic jar or the host's location.

Lot of stuff, but it's an intricate spell.

First of all, the important bit:

The only thing that seems possible when you're inside the gem is to attack the life force of nearby targets. It's the *only thing you can perceive* when inside the gem.

You're basically a genie in a bottle with the stopper on. You can't do anything else aside from looking out the window for souls.

When the spell ends, you shunt back to your body.

Range is based on the spell range, i.e. 100ft+10ft/lvl, and you need line of effect between jar and targets.

If you possess a body, you keep you own mental stats but gain the target's physical ones. Class abilities are your own, but creature powers aren't unless they're automatic (regeneration and DR, but not spell like abilities). In a living target, you're no longer an undead and lose the undead pros/cons. A big CON creature gives you big extra hps, and unless the target body is also an undead subtype, CHA bonus hit points go poof (no double-dipping HPs).

Now for specific powers once in a jar or new body, it's a bit more tricky and may be case by case. As a DM, I recently used magic jar on a shadow dancer PC, and I let him communicate with his shadow, but that was the extent of it. But Hollywood-type monster possessions usually allow them to keep using a lot of their mental powers (and sometimes super physical abilities).

One item I've used in the past to get off the ground fast was with a "Feather Token : Tree". And for only 400gp.

A massive oak tree suddenly appearing can modify the battlefield. Either as instant perfect cover (5ft thick trunk), a source of lumber, a way to go up 60 feet, a surprise for any unfortunate creature who happens to be under it as it springs into existence and propels it away.

Used underground, or if swallowed whole, can lead to interesting (and highly debatable) consequences.

I've come to appreciate any creature with aquatic qualities and the "Control Water" spell.

PCs are often completely unprepared for a sudden flooding of the battle zone.

Creatures that fit the bill in my Jade Regent/Ruby Phoenix Tournament game:
- Brine dragon
- Hydrodaemon
- Omox demon

BTW, I'm going with "natural attacks from aquatic creature have no penalties under water" rule.

My paladin

I was about to express my doubts, but then I saw the hair.

That is definitely Lawful Good hair!

It also doesn't remove the RP aspects of alignment. The PC may act however he wishes and it won't effect powers used on him, but it will affect how people see him and react to him. In parts of this AP that is as important as anything else.

This is how I play it.

You don't lose your old alignment, you just find yourself where the universe doesn't mechanically care what alignment you are, just choose the one that immediately suits you. There are tons of other RPGs without alignment systems, but everyone doesn't go and play homicidal maniacs and claim they are peace loving champions of society.

A good character remains a good character and keeps the same values. For non-divine classes, it will be a matter of public perception (you do crap, expect crap). But for divine classes, you better watch yourself as the boss is always keeping an eye on you. A LG god watching his paladin sacrificing babies will not take it well. Most good deities will not grant evil domain spells in any case. Same goes for evil deities granting "goodie two-shoe" spells.

The Ravingdork Fallacy: Because the rules say you *can* do it doesn't mean you *should* do it.

There are plenty of extreme character builds or uses of the rules that are ridiculously overpowered and/or fun breaking.

Like when I recently read your build for a half-orc barbarian-druid who can wildshape into a huge behemoth hippo and do 32d8+X of damage in a single attack.

Or in my game last weekend where a fire yai oni with a tetsubo (maul) of the Titans sundered and destroyed the tank's +5 armor (and that of her cohort), then pummeled the unarmored character into a pulp.

Most games already ignore the wanton destruction of magical items after a fireball, even though they "normally" should roll saving throws.

Everything here is 100% game legal, but very few would be recommended to do outside of the occasional story element.

Character Name: Hellena
Race/Class Human Fighter 9/Paladin of Shizuru 6, party tank
Adventure: Tide of Hnor
Location: Siege of Seinaru Heikiko
Catalyst: Destroyed armored

What happened:The fire yai and atamahuta onis were looking for a female Amatatsu heir. Six female adventurers stepped out. They focused on the warrior carrying the ancestral katana Suishen, and that warrior was wearing a magical o-yoroi armor that hid her chelaxian origin.

One of the atamahuta dimension doored himself and the fire yai right in front of the warrior and the fire yai power attacked+vital striked a sunder on the armor with his tetsubo of the titans (triple damage against inanimate items). Her armor was completely destroyed.

Now with very low defenses, the fire yai continued its assault in addition to blasting her with his third eye fire bolt. The following round, the hasted atamahuta also joined the fray and deadly massive damage.

The only character able to save her was the oracle with her Breath of Life spell. Alas, she got caught in the second atamahuta's Black Tentacle spell.

In an interesting twist, the player had her character refuse to be brought back to life by the seal or raise dead spell (target must be willing). The player was still a bit in shock at the sheer brutality of what just transpired, and the loss of an irreplaceable armor.

We started book 6 and the other PCs just entered Kasai and will begin the imperial shrine island. After some discussion with the player, his character will make an unexpected surprise return as a full-fledged non-multiclassed shiny paladin of Shizuru (with maybe a half-celestial template, or asimaar race) that will appear in the temple of Shizuru that just happens to be the first stop on the island.

Being a paladin of the patron deity of the empire you're saving and an eligible imperial heir does have some non-standard perks. This late in the campaign, no one will complain.

In my Jade Regent AP, my PCs will soon encounter some Taotieh (Bestiary 3) which have the ability to swallow whole creatures and put them in a pocket dimension where they eventually suffocate unless freed.

The Taotieh can hold up to four creatures. Mine will already have several corpses in them, but I want one of them to have a corpse that turned undead from the trauma.

Assuming it originally was an average medium sized humanoid (though not necessarily a nice person), which undead best fits the role?

The PCs are lvl 15, and any PC getting swallowed will be alone against that undead until his comrades free him.

I know your pain.

In the Jade Regent AP I'm running, I let the players roll and one of them rolled excessively well and I readjusted the other PCs in the spirit of equality. Now, after adding some other players and some side quests, the PCs are two levels higher than planned in the adventure, and with their overwhelming stats and equipment, they're besting AP encounters at CL+4 with ease.

I won't mention the short life spans of all the dragons and boss monsters they've met along the way.

Re-balancing the adventure is a lot of work. I'm fortunate that I have Hero Labs and the community made AP in that format so boosting the encounters is relatively quick.

Some feats I regularly use when I boost melee combatants:
- Vital Strike
- Improved natural attack
- Toughness
- Improved critical
- Fortified armor training + heavy wooden shield (awesome against improved critical katana wielding paladins)
- Lunge (for lots of ganging up and keeping away from pointy swords)

If appropriate, the Improved/Greater combat maneuver feats can really surprise the PCs (the paladin never thought he'd get disarmed by one baddy and have a second one pick up his sword and throw it away).

For casters, instead of just adding more and more spells, metamagic feats make things simpler. With higher levels of summon monster, have them use the spell to summon multiples of weaker monsters that have spell-like abilities.

And of course, the environment. There are a lot of little rules that can make it tougher and some spells that can take advantage of it. For example, I once used Control Water to raise the water in a beach fight and essentially created a very big wall of water that separated the group and have some stuck in suddenly very deep water and wearing heavy armor (and low swim skill).

All in all, it's going to be extra work to be a challenge without risking a TPK.

What if the nonlethal damage was high enough to cause lethal damage as well (which is likely with a d12 x 4 crit weapon) - does this change the answer?

This.

If we go by standard rules concerning nonlethal damage:
If a creature's nonlethal damage is equal to his total maximum hit points (not his current hit points), all further nonlethal damage is treated as lethal damage. This does not apply to creatures with regeneration. Such creatures simply accrue additional nonlethal damage, increasing the amount of time they remain unconscious.

I left the regenerating bit as an interesting extra, just in case.

The target being helpless, it would initially receive massive amounts of nonlethal damage from the Coup De Grace, put it KO, but is still alive. Once you hit the real damage threshold (possible in the initial hit), the likelihood of instant death is quite real. It just took a few extra swipes.

I'd rule that for the Fort saving throw, it has to be real damage to count.

People have to remember that Coup De Graces aren't always automatically fatal either, even with normal damage.

When you stop to think about it, a nonlethal coup de grace is perfect for a "bring'em back alive" scenario.

I will echo what people have said above. A Samurai Hellknight sounds like the business. His armour is likely to be very stylish indeed. Sword Saint archetype?

Curiously enough, I'm adding a LN Samurai-Hellknight (Order of Shield-Godclaw) as an NPC in my Jade Regent campaign.

Raised in Cheliax from a refugee Tian family, trained as a determined samurai, caught the attention of the Hellknights, got into the order, took upon himself to go and save his ancestral country (Minkai) from what he believes is unlawful heathen rulership.

He's a character that arrived several years before the main PCs, and they kept finding clues (busted Hellknight armor in a Tian-Xia armor shop for example) that some Hellknights preceded them. This particular character is the only survivor of his original party.

I'm keeping him for the last book. But clues to his whereabouts and back story will keep popping up. His final appearance depends on the actions of the PCs. He may be on the side of the PCs or the bad guys, alive and well or a undead grave knight.

Also... were-rat rattlers!

Why stop at being awakened when you can be cursed with lycanthropy too!

This thread is silly.

I love it!

Now to make an awakened barbarian camel and get revenge on all those Cimmerian jerks who can't appreciate a friendly spit in the face.

The WotR player guide already gives some insight on what may be useful.

Demon hunting: One of the obvious main themes. Expect plenty of evil outsiders with immunities and resistance (both spell and energy). Relatively common knowledge about demons is vulnerability to cold iron; immunity to electricity and poison; resistance to cold, fire and acid. Knowledge (planes) will nice to have maxed out to get clues about particular powers of individual outsiders.

Redemption: The social theme of fighting evil or saving from evil. You're going to get a lot of different intensities of evil here (shades of grey). Not all are destined to be destroyed as soon as it is found. So social skills like Sense Motive, Diplomacy and/or Intimidate will be essential.

The characters *know* that they'll be in a city filled with crusaders (both fanatical and moderate) and bordering a demon infested land.

MASTERWORK HAGGIS...

The five feasts were quite a surprise for the players. The group was already very fortunate to have a bard with some maxed out Perform skills and that our duelist and shadow dancer also had some ranks in perform.

First feast, our halfling asked to use her riding dog mount and staffsling for the archery test. Since the prince had chosen her for his fixation, he complied and they fetched the dog. She didn't get a bulls-eye but the crowd was nevertheless entertained. The horse race went succeeded, but we failed the wrestling match.

The feast of ancients and feast of fire went well enough, succeeded most of the challenges.

Then came the feast of honored guests and the group pretty much unanimously went "We are so effed". None of the PCs had cooking skills, and with a crowd of 300 to feed they understood that the DC would be as high as the others.

This is when player creativity kicked in. We presumed that our varisian driver brothers were probably the caravan's cooks, so we had a base. Then with some bardic competence boosting, a few divine blessings, aid from the other PCs and NPCs and an assumed well equiped royal kitchen pumped the bonuses to the low twenties, so they knew they could cook whatever they needed to cook.

But what to cook?

Our bagpipe blowing bard from land of linnorm kings proposed that haggis was a perfect signature dish. With everything they ate the previous days, this sounded oddly perfect.

Then things got weird. Our oracle has the spell Masterwork Transformation, and since food is an item that can go from horrible quality to masterwork quality was eligible target for the spell. And by making big enough haggis, we could make as many as the oracles 2nd level spells and over.

In the end, not only did the cooks succeed their check, but we had:
...TWO
...DOZEN
...GIANT
...MASTERWORK
...HAGGIS
courtesy of the goddess of death Pharasma! Complete with speckles of silver.

Needless to say that the ninja attack during the final feast felt refreshingly normal.

Hungry Storm, my players finally begun the necropolis and encountered the stone tree. An area with no real way to "beat the trap" besides shrugging and going around it.

With a detect magic before entering the cavern, they realized that the barrier was there, and with a detect undead that the inside zone was filled with angry spirits.

They understood that the tree was originally consecrated to Desna, and after conversing with Koya, the PCs tried to help the spirits.

Entering the pool to meditate and join or converse with the spirits didn't work out as they planned as the specters attacked. But they did notice that specters were coming from the tree.

What happened next was that our life oracle turned into his positive energy elemental form, entered the pool and hugged the tree and started to channel energy inside the barrier. The petrified tree responded to the positive energy and faintly pulsed with light. Our cleric/monk joined the fray to channel energy too, and so did Koya. We're talking a lot of concentrated karma being pumped into the area. Any undead specter that popped out of the tree was effectively instantaneously destroyed.

I decided that there was a 5% cumulative chance for each channel energy to "reawaken" the petrified tree.

After four rounds, the tree started to glow under its own light, the water now reflected the tree's light in addition to it's own, and a long forgotten comforting light filled the cavern as if moonlight was shining down through the branches of a tree.

We ended the game session on that note, but I treated it as an unexpected CR10 encounter (lots of channel energy were consumed). I've decided that they've reconsecrated a powerful symbol of Desna and turned the cavern into a Sanctuary spell safe zone if they need to rest.

As an extra one-shot reward (that will be unknown to them), the PCs that participated in channel energizing or protecting the clerics/oracles while they were doing it will receive a "get-out-jail-card" while in the necropolis (DM's discretion), courtesy of Desna. Useful when you know there is a demon worshiping ghost possessed yeti boss nearby.

Brinewall Legacy

Here's a caravan encounter I created after digging through the various sourcebooks (requires some familiarity with the Harrow deck). No real effect on the characters, but it gives some insight on things to come:

The caravan meets with another Varisian caravan going in the opposite direction. Ameiko notices that they have a harrower and asks to have her fortune told.

The harrower prepares the cards as usual. As she is about to pick her card, a sudden gust of wind blows the card out of her hand and drops it face down on the ground. No other cards were affected by the gust. Sense Motive checks confirm that the harrower is just as surprised as everyone else (if not more), in a "That's *never* happened before!" sense. The harrower tells Ameiko to pick up the card without looking at it and place it on the table face down.

The harrower places the other cards and asks Ameiko to flip over her card last. The card revealed is the Empty Throne. (A coincidence that it's an actual Harrow deck card and the last book of the AP?) ;-)

Had I been more familiar with the Harrowing rules, I would've tweaked the encounter more. But I went with a generalized "I will tell of your past, present and future" harrowing.

Here's what I currently have planned for my players:

Fighter: An original tien text and translated version of "Bushido", aka "The Way of the Warrior". In it will also be many depictions of training exercises for katanas and wakizashis. Overall effect: character has the basic knowledge to become a samurai on his next level (Ameiko being the samurai's lord). If the character does not want to become a samurai, the training exercices will give free proficiency with the katana and wakizashi. Only classes already trained in martial weapons can benefit from this. And currently, we only have one character trained in this manner.

Druid: a variant of Deuxhero's infinite Varisian Idol. It looks like a Varisian idol, but has the shapes of many foreign or exotic creatures and animals (but common in Tian-Xia) with many embedded jade stones in it. Only three uses per day but gives the Augmented Summoning feat boost (+4 Con, +4 Str).

Cleric-Monk: Beautiful silk garment, +1 AC, glamered ability.

Bard: Original copy and translated version of The Tayagama. Will grant bonuses to relations with Tian people and insight against onis (DM fiat)

Rogue: ... still trying to figure out what. Not sure if I want something ninja themed for the characters yet.

The types of items I'm creating are the kind that wouldn't have been used during Brinewall Castle's invasion, or were redundant. So these are more of the cultural treasure type.

Just started part three of Brinewall Legacy.

Part 1 : Played it pretty much as planned, though the characters missed the Soggy River Monstr and bypassed Old Megus's shack by building a raft to float along the waterways.

Part 2 : The Caravan. I used some of the extra caravan events and bumped the chance of encounter to 25%/day. Since the players were eager for some XPs and real action instead of the basic caravan rules, I made a special encounter while they camped near Churlwood Forest. In the middle of the night, a dire elk plowed out of the woods and charged through the caravan. The characters attacked it with arrows but noticed it already had several arrows in it. Once they dropped the elk (it was running away really), the quickly realized that they were poison arrows and Shalelu recognized goblin designs. They figured the goblin hunting party would slowly follow, letting the poison do the dirty work. Later on, ten goblins and one hobgoblin archer came along and lost the fight against the PCs. Early the following morning, while the mist was still hanging near the ground, the saw that a dozen angry shoanti warriors were standing in front of the caravan, wondering what they should do with them. The shoanti leader was curious of the caravan's act against a sacred animal. Our chelaxian fighter calmly pointed towards the goblin heads she put on spikes as a warning and explained about the poison arrows and that the group's druid purified the elk's body. This appeased the shoanti, and long story short they shared the bounty of the elk's body. Figuring that the shoanti would use 100% of the carcass, they left the caravan use some of the meat to feed themselves for the next day. The could've carried the antlers (caravan hood ornament?), but decided they were too cumbersome.

Other unexpected caravan event was the young fugitive boy who killed his employer/slaver in Roderic's Cove and stowed away in Koya's wagon. They found him, and bless Koya's big heart, they kept him. Not much later, the horse riders came with accusations, but they kept him hidden and with mention of Sandru's family name (to his annoyance), they left the caravan alone. In any other town, save for Riddleport, it wouldn't have worked, but we're talking about pirates and den of thieves here. He's now a barely competent cook for the caravan (he'll cost 0 food overall), but if he pulls any crazy s~&%, he's out on his own.

Part 3: Brinewall castle. Players went over the wall instead of through the gate, killed a few corbies, found Zaiobe with whom they forged a quick alliance (the PCs are an all female group, so Zaiobe was far more cooperative). They dropped Kikonu in a single round (godly dice rolls) and quickly used fire to finish him off. So now I'm adding a dire corby bard "director" for the corbies practicing the play in the throne room. My director will have a old silk scarf around his neck and a director's "baton" (club) to give directions (hitting them). I'll have him doing some bardic support during the fight (performance, spells: daze (0); hypnotism, charm person, etc.). The PCs are one fight away from 3rd level, so they'll be able to handle it.