Cthulhudrew's page

Now, in Elric's stories, Chaos is Evil. I think Moorcock was a bit biased towards Law. I think the Granbretons from Hawkmoon were his attempt at LE, but while undoubtedly Evil, they do not feel that Lawful to me.

Interestingly enough, in his more recent stories (notably his Second Ether works), he seems to have adopted an opposite view, with the Law-aligned factions having a decidedly more evil (certainly at least authoritarian) ideology, and the Chaos-factions being more ideologically disposed towards free will, self-determination, and taking on the role of the "good guys."

I hear it has statuesque maidens in it.

Just don't go placing them on pedestals.

It doesn't sound like there is any assumption that PCs are starting with any kind of stone-age/prehistoric equipment or weaponry in this AP? Just standard off-the-shelf stuff up to and including steel armor/weapons/etc.?

They should be able to weaponize the Truth against their enemies.

Once again, gremlins get no love. :'(

Finally, this means that Dance Halls of Golarion will come to be.

Starring Wang Chung.

So who had "Conqueror Worm" on their scorecard for the machinations behind Galt?

Maybe they've found a way of bringing the Teamwork Feats concept back, and this is a class connected to that? Inquisitor would be a contender then, as would something like a Marshall.

Time to convince the GM to let me play one in a Tian Xia campaign so they can pretend to be a kitsune and really surprise everybody.

Is that a fox that turns into a spider, or a spider that turns into a fox? The mind boggles.

It will be interesting to see how paleolithic weapons and armor are handled (if at all) in this AP: how they function in 2E, what magic items and treasure looks like in such an environment, if there will be some barter rules, and how such equipment would compare to equipment of comparable level heroes from more technologically advanced regions in Golarion.

Okay, hear me out... 3x 1-20 APs with interchangeable books.

I like this idea. I also think it would be interesting to see a 3 module AP, with a closely or semi-connected "sequel" at higher levels that might come later down the line. Or even replace the final issue "continuing the campaign" sections with "Linking Campaigns" sections that would give tips for linking various short APs together into a longer campaign.

That description of Ant Gnoll reminded that Kender existed at some point in time. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

Sounds like it's actually a tall Pugwampi to me... ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Par-kay

I'm here to make known that there's people that want Ghorans.

Yes - I understand they are quite tasty!

The book have been said to be very “lore focused”.

So I would manage my expectations and not expect a lot of “rule” options.

I hope this is true. I have wanted more Mwangi content for years now, and as I still play 1E, I would prefer to have more lore than rules content that might not be easily usable for me.

I wonder if monsters who wait around in their rooms all day use some kind of fantasy "uber eats" service.

We demand a Gremlin ancestry!

Just my opinion, but it seems to me having all enemies focus their efforts on a single PC may make sense from a game/mechanics perspective, but it feels very inauthentic and breaks suspension of disbelief.

I could see a scenario in which- if given a good rationale (ie, seeing someone cast a spell)- a group is directed to focus their efforts on that person, but as a general practice it seems weird to me.

Caligni bodies go poof when they die.

Is that a Lamashtan or Rovagug cultist?

The one on the left (back to camera) is definitely a Skinsaw cultist. Don't know about the figure on the right, though.

ETA: There are actually multiple Skinsaw cultists; I just noticed the one in the far, far right.

I really love this Amiri piece "Ambushed." Who is the artist?

Did Ron Lundeen do twice as much work as everyone else?

Lucas VerBeek wrote:

Wait....there's a Human Ethnicity with a Breath Weapon?!

This shouldn't be too surprising, since I've met some people on Earth who had weapons-grade breath . . . .

"If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were none living near her; she would infect to the North Star." - Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing

Where in Golarion is Eurithina? The architecture looks Tian (even if the name doesn't sound like it), and the image shows up in the Saga Lands, but I don't recall ever seeing this location.

EDIT: Ah! That explains it- it's "Eurythnia"; the name in the image link is misspelled. That is probably just the Tian quarter of the city, in keeping with the original Eurythnia's multicultural population.

Thanks, Diego! I appreciate your looking into this.

Bumping in case this was missed.

Hello, I was wondering if you could look into order 7965213 for me. It is currently showing as on hold pending backordered items, but the only item that should be part of this shipment is AP #144 which does not otherwise list as on backorder.

It originally had AP #145 in there as well, but I canceled my subscription for the AP line after 144, so possibly it was 145 that was initially on backorder and is holding up the shipment?

Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thank you!

I thought one of the iconics was getting replaced. Is that not happening or are they still just not telling us? (or was Mark Moreland teasing when he said we'd seen the replacement iconic after the swashbuckler was mistakenly referred to as Lirianne instead of Jirelle?)

They did say one of those 4 iconics is getting replaced, and that it isn't Feiya. I also suspect it is neither Alahazra nor Quinn, so Jirelle seems the likely candidate.

The picture in the book they look a bit like shirren with a spider theme, but they're shape shifters so they can change between a hybrid, spider or human (so as to not freak out the squares) form.

They sound like aranea to me. Are they different, or is "anadi" just the new ancestry name for aranea in 2e?

Got the corrected authorization today. Looks good. Thank you!

Hello-

I did receive a pending shipment notice on Thursday July 4, and it does show AP 145 on it, rather than only 144.

Hello-

I would like to cancel my AP subscription after Midwives to Death (#144) ships. I love Pathfinder and Paizo, but I am not ready to switch to 2nd edition at this time.

Thank you!

Finally, more proteans. Always found it weird they're supposed to be the most varied outsider and yet there's only a handful of them out of the 10 years of publication.

I see this and I raise you an "I've always found it odd that these representations of pure chaos all seem to be very singular in form."

Was the reason for the dead krakens ever revealed?

Looks like a placeholder originating from one of the fey books.

I think you are 100% correct (that, or unpublished artwork from Black Markets). It looks like the Witchmarket, right down to the "tear in the tent" pretty clearly being some kind of planar breach.

Sounds like we jumped to the assumption that "new race" meant player race.....when they are not actually intended as a player race :P

I'd say that is definitely the case. The description of the subtype and the two examples in the bestiary section don't seem to support the idea of this being a player race at all. Just a new sort of monster.

Collecting sold out single volumes into compilations is a standard operating procedure in the comics & books (and to a lesser degree in the rpg) industry.

I don't think comparing the comic model to Paizo's model is necessarily a good analogy for your reasoning here.

Bear in mind that, in the comics industry, advertising pays for a substantial part of the cost of the printed comic, which is why monthly comics are still being created (as opposed to going over full throttle to trade paperbacks). That isn't the case (at least to the best of my knowledge) for APs.

Additionally, comic publishers don't bother waiting for singles to sell out before collecting them in trade (just look at all the single issues that fill the dollar bins in any comic store. Volumes of them these days, as opposed to once upon a time). So you end up in a situation where the retailer- who orders his issues on spec, hoping for his retail customers to buy up the singles- now has a lot of singles left to try and dispose of at a much lower profit margin. (Which has hurt a lot of retailers substantially.)

If anything, I would think that the comic model would be a good cautionary tale to Paizo [u]not[/u] to collect APs on any kind of regular basis. I would assume that they retain the bulk of their print run, with only a small percentage of it going out to retailers to sell, meaning that they would be the ones with the largest volume of what are presumably less appealing (to purchasers) single issues when they do their collected "reprint."

(Just as an aside, I'm kind of glad they haven't put out collected volumes of more APs than they have. I really love the collected/revised RotRL, but I was somewhat disappointed in CoCT. I felt that the layout was not up to the quality of the layout in the RotRL collection, and did not care for most of the changes. I prefer the single issues, even if they do require conversion to PF.)

How about Dynamo for Vanguard? It's both a device that converts mechanical energy in to another type (usually electric) and is a name for a dynamic person.

I second Dynamo as a more suitable name for the Vanguard.

Who are the Razatlani? I don't remember them mentioned before.

The name sounds an awful lot like the Azlanti. Co-inky-dink?

If their Infinite Worlds ability could be expanded during ship combat, I could see that being useful in hindering enemy movement (or, if using a suggestion I made in the first impressions thread for having their ability provide beneficial effects, to assist the PCs ship instead). Creating gravity wells or miniature black holes would certainly be disruptive to attacking fleets!

These are pretty interesting. Kind of reminds me of Ambrose Chase from Warren Ellis' Planetary.

I do wonder, though, as written their Infinite Worlds ability seems only useful for making the world around them hazardous terrain in some manner. I think it would be cool if they could also use it for the opposite- for instance, making difficult terrain regular terrain. Using it in beneficial ways, and not just as a hindrance.

Kind of an odd name for the class, but it is pretty interesting and unique. I am enjoying what I see of it on an initial read through (although the descriptions of the aspects feel a bit too technical for the non-physicist).

Luis Loza wrote:

We are definitely sneaking in some mythic support before we close the door on 1E!

Yay!

Double that yay!

Yayay!!

(Especially if it happens to benefit some of the post-Mythic classes that haven't had as much of a chance to get their share of mythic treatment.)

I think you're confused as to the point of that ritual. It's a replacement for those creatures ability to summon other creatures of their type in 1e. In 1e it was a flat percentage if the summon would work. It's to give them a way to still have the ability to call other creatures of their type to their side while in different planes. Otherwise the plot of a lot of 1st edition adventures would not be able to be converted over easily.

Not confused about the reason for it at all, I just don't think that the Ritual treatment accomplishes what it set out to do to replace that 1e summoning ability.

As it stands, the ability as written basically is useless. Either the ritual has already successfully summoned demonic allies for the villain prior to the arrival of the PCs (in which case it is really just a matter of setting the encounter appropriately), or they have not. The time frame to summon allies makes it extremely unlikely it will ever impact an encounter if they have not already done so (unless the PCs take an awfully, awfully long time to kill the demon.)

Likewise, the Critical Success/Success/Failure/Critical Failure effects will never come into play unless a DM is really intent on playing some kind of random game of chance with (essentially) himself, and have the PCs show up while the demon is battling with other demons, weakened from that battle, dead(?) from that battle, or the PCs show up while the Critically Successfully summoned allies are serenading their summoner because they are so ecstatic to be called on. Or he feels like deciding randomly if the demon succeeded or failed.

I get the intent, but using the Ritual mechanic for this purpose is very silly in this situation. It should either have its casting time reduced to a point that it is useful in combat, or should be changed from a Ritual back into some other natural ability (or just disregarded entirely and replaced with some kind of staging suggestion for how to build encounters representing demons with already summoned allies).

I imagine the answer is no, but this sounds like a good place to have some last 1E mythic support (and I'd like to see it if so!)

To add to the topic-

I still find myself shaking my head over the demon/devil summoning rituals from the Bestiary. As written, they can't be used by PCs which really makes the failure/success element of the rituals pointless, not to mention just the oddity of making them a part of their combat statistics anyway (since it isn't something the demon/devil is going to cast in combat; it should just be mentioned as encounter building to set the level of difficulty of an encounter appropriately).

Ha! I think it would be great to have (or be) a GM who approves the Accidental Clone trait for the entire party! That is a fun one.

My rule of thumb: if you have to parse the language so much that you're forced into defending your preferred interpretation against a sizable opposition of opinion that you yourself solicited, then your preferred interpretation is probably not the intended one.

So don't do it.

No! KOBOLDS AS CORE RACE!

Pfah. Why have lousy kobolds when you could have precocious, fun GREMLINS?

I would guess they are leaving it open so that other villains may make use of them someday, even if not PC.

Maybe. I'd think you'd have the same problem if it is an NPC only ritual, though.

The only NPC scenario I could foresee this actually being used in is if there is a final encounter where the PCs stumble into the final stages of the ritual and have a chance to affect the summoning roll so that it turns into a critical fail and now the "Big Bad" has two enemies to worry about (PCs and demon/devil who didn't want to be summoned).

That seems like a really, really isolated possibility, and it seems easier to just adjudicate a possible scenario like that in text/encounter building, rather than leaving it up to a random roll, though.

Or perhaps at some point when they do a villain book there will be some high level PC options that allow their use.

This seems more likely; that they think at some point they might open it up to PCs, but even if so, it seems they might be better served by leaving the rituals for such a supplement, and free up some space in the Bestiary for other goodies.