Goblin Squad Member. Organized Play Member. 451 posts (600 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 2 wishlists. 2 Organized Play characters. 6 aliases.
What does "writing an awesome story" have to do with roleplaying?
What's the point of building an awesome character, if you're not going to bring the character to life at the table? If the character isn't going to face hard choices, triumphs and despair?
Roleplaying happens in the game, not the backstory.
I respectfully disagree with you on this point. The back story is the baseline for how your character makes choices in game. With a more detailed background, the easier it is to make proper character choices in game. And while you are correct in that the role=play occurs in game, discounting your character background, or not writing one at all, hinders role-play in game.
I find that the backgrounds I write help keep me focused on how my characters will act in most common situations and also some uncommon situations.
When those rare situations come up, where I can not instantly make a proper "in character" decision, I find that taking a moment to consider all my background, as well as character choices that have happened "in game" helps me greatly in deciding what to do.
Because of this, I feel that the character background is one of the most important parts of role-playing in game.
As you are the GM, you have absolute control over all these concerns. The simplicity of it is this:
1) You, as GM, can level your players however you want to. If you think the AP does not have enough skill and role play opportunities, then add them to your hearts content. You have the control over this. just because the AP doesn't have enough of these factors written in for yours and your players tastes does not mean you cant add to it. Also, you should not expect every AP or dungeon module to have everything YOU want in it. None of them fit every GM's or players perfect idea of a pre-written campaign. If you just want to run it right from the books without any preparation or adjustment for you players, then that fault lies with you.
2) You, as GM, know your players better than any of us here on the boards. When you say you want a plot the PC's can control and change, guess what? Every single AP can have the PC's change the plot. I think what you are wanting is something pre-written by the paizo staff (that does not know your group any more than I do), that has 2-3 alternate story lines to account for PC ingenuity. Well, that is not a realistic expectation as these ap's are specifically 96pages and could not account for your's or my group's crazy choices.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age only have a few alternate paths to go down. What if your players felt 3 were not enough? They would bash those games rather than play them. And should you expect Bioware to give you 6 alternate paths and spend 6-7 years in development rather than 3? (Unrealistic expectations).
3) You can easily change the main baddies at the end of the AP's to be the (underling of Orcus) if you so desire. As a matter of fact, several of the AP's give a small section at the end where they talk about continueing the adventure. Of course that means YOU will have to do the work, but that is the price for being a GM, especially if you want your players talking about how bad-ass your campaign was a decade after it ended.
Please don't expect any company, much less paizo, to do these things. These same complaints can be said of WoTC in the 3.5 days by a factor of 10. The simple truth is, you have a solid foundation for a story presented in the AP's. How you personalize it for your group is your responsibility as GM.
The will have chance to catch the them unbuffed but no chance of takeing them a few at time. That would be to easy.
Many a GM has gone into a pre-made encounter with the assumption that it will turn out the way THEY want. With the statement YOU make that there is no chance of taking them a few at a time, I must warn you that things never happen exactly the way YOU want. Also, you really don't give a reason for why they wont take them a few at a time, only that it would be to easy if you ever game them a chance to...
By drawing your line in the sand, you are setting in your mind that the encounter will not be easy for the pc's, thus, you are setting your GMing to fail. With the attitude that the encounter will be hard "no matter what" you are dooming yourself to bad gm decisions just to make it hard on the pc's.
I have seen it before so many times. A) pc's do something unexpected- possibly removing a combatant or two priot to the main battle. B) GM compensates by doing 'X' C) pc's end up dying because GM was to hard headed to let the encounter go 'as is' just because they wanted it to be hard.
All I see in your statement is - you don't care what the pc's do, you will manipulate the encounter (that is already a beast) in to something that does not reward pc ingenuity.
Go into this with an open mind and be ready for the unexpected. If you don't, it will be an encounter that has the potential to alienate your players because the GM god (YOU) decided there would be no way to take out a few at a time (even once).
And this is just a little side note, 6 lvl three archers that are just as good at melee as they are with archery is rare in non pc types. Think before you do this encounter Mathius. Don't count on a cr9 encounter to be hard. Just like you shouldn't think a cr4 encounter should be easy (even though 95% of the time both cases are true with a CR6 group)
For your players sake, don't go into this with your mind made up about how it will go. It makes you just like 90% of the other bad gm's out there that don't give their pc's a chance to shine.
This was not meant to be mean, its just that I have experienced gm's that think the same way you do and their 'in game decisions' are not rational, but are only made to insure the encounter goes exactly like they planned come hell or high water. Don't be like those...
I had a GM go after me (I was a wizard) in every encounter once I hit 3rd level. I was even making a major effort to not cast spells unless the encounter was quite tough. (I was playing a mage with an elminster type attitude of don't flaunt your magic, use it as a last resort, etc...). He seemed to get tired of me casting flaming sphere and moving it around the battlefield (in those tough encounters) and firing off my crossbow as my standard action.
I would say I used the flaming spheres approximately 5-6 times during my 3rd and 4th levels combined.
So when I started feeling super targeted by the gm, I took the heightened spell/preferred spell combo @ 5th and chose magic missile as my preferred spell. (I already had specialized spell: Flaming Sphere (and I changed it to magic missile @ 4th level), the toppling spell feat, and spell focus evocation). (I always had 1 toppling magic missile memorized (and I had the trait to lower metamagics on magic missile by -1 level).
Well, I stopped using flaming sphere and proceeded to keep 3 mirror images memorized, bought blur potions, and a displacement potion (just in case), crafted 6 scrolls of CL5 toppling magic missiles with the toppling spell metamagic in them and proceeded tripping his baddies over and over again.
Lets just say his baddies were not getting close.
On top of that, I worked it out with the Monk in our group to get adjacent to as many enemies as possible (because I asked him to take vicious stomp), and I would get him at least 1 extra attack a round if not two, or three.
8 encounters in on the first game after hitting 5th, we had a small argument at the table over this, and I simply said, "The battlefield tactics were changing. I adapted. Now its your baddies turn to adapt..."
@5th level I had a 20int, which game me (6) 1st level spells, which I could channel in to magic missiles and apply the toppling metamagic and the spell was still 1st level. I recall using 4 scrolls and all six of my 1st level spells to trip my gm's ass up in those 8 encounters. I casted 5x as many magic missiles that one game day as I had the entire campaign. The Players loved it, many saying out loud, "Its about F'ing time..."
the GM's face showed he was not liking it.
It was like my GM turned into the OP of this thread. Kobolds, humanoids of every kind, monsters, abberations, magical beasts... they all came after me even when I was last in the initiative. (and no, I was not dressed like a mage)
In a way, I felt very proud that I would be targeted like this, but I knew that I had been holding back so much in my magical damage output. I was essentially a crossbowman for levels 1 and 2. I didn't cast a magic missile till 3rd level, casting it only when I couldn't hit with the crossbow. I had not displayed any real threat over the first three levels. So why was I being targeted...?
Anyway, Back on point...
I only had to worry about mirror image once, and we waltzed through the 8 encounters like we were going against CR1's all day.
The monk player never had as much fun in a game and he told me, on numerous occasions, how thankful he was to actually have a player he could team up with like we were. He was the one doing the major damage. I was just hitting multiple opponents for 1d4+1 and tripping. (thank goodness the monk's build was combat reflex based.) Until 5th level, I would have to say that he got maybe 5-6 AoO's the entire campaign. Now He was getting 5-6 per encounter with my trip and the baddies getting back up. He twice used up all 5 of his AoO's in a single round. He was giggly. His d20 was starting to get worn down and I made the comment that the edges on that die were not as sharp as they were the previous week. :D
It wasn't long before every baddy the gm put out there had the feat that allowed them to stand up with out provoking an AoO, or their CMD was quite high. At that point all of us knew it was a game of us (players) vs. the GM, rather than a Roleplaying game. It was to bad because that GM had been so awesome for so many years. Oh well.
In closing, I must say that the OP can be cured of his meta gaming ways if he doesn't act like he is the DM god of the universe and really thinks things through with his NPC's and their combat tactics. I mean, if he can take anything from this thread, please don't attack the caster until he reveals himself as a caster, if your NPC's don't already know the players.
And yes, if a wizard walks around in a dunce cap with moons and stars on it and has a giant book at his side and 2-4 wands on his belt, assuming he is a wizard or sorcerer is justifiable. But if not, then all you will do is alienate your players and possibly make the wizard come out of his shell... literally.
We did finally end that game (the gm did) @lvl 10. His final argument was that he only did 32 points of damage to my character from 5th - 10th level. When he said that, I chuckled out loud, because he was right. I had just never thought of it. But I stopped playing the 'hide your magic' type personality because survival over rode everything else.
He didn't like my laugh so he ended the game.
I can say that the Fighter and the Barbarian in the group had adjusted their builds to take advantage of my tripping, so by level 9 we were a well oiled machine. But even at lvl 5 and level 7, it was getting to the point where we were controlling almost every combat in its entirety. Big bads hardly ever got off a full round action of attacks, minions were on their back the entire combat, and once I had lingering spells on tripped opponents, it was lights out in 2-3 rounds for most baddies, (if they made it past round 1), (yes, I had the lingering evocation power from the generation subschool...)
Lingering Evocations (Su): Any evocation spell you cast with a duration greater than instantaneous lasts an additional number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum +1). At 20th level, any dispel checks made against your evocation spells must be rolled twice, and your opponent must use the less favorable result
I am not to familiar with the Shattered Star other than I read through it about a year ago. It was specifically designed to be a follow up to Rise of the Runelords, Second Darkness and Curse of the Crimson Throne.
That being said, The first and Second installments of Second Darkness are a perfect set up to almost any other homebrew or Paizo adventure/AP/campaign. After playing in Second Darkness, I will admit that I loved those first two books of the AP. You have a nasty villain, the set up for many more encounters in Riddleport, and a Launchpad into Varisia. Magnimar and Riddleport are a good distance away from eachother, but as GM, I am sure you could put the right NPC's, story elements, or plot hooks during the first 7 levels of your PC's lives, not to mention Riddleport is a port, so taking ship to Magnimar is very realistic and can add some fun ship based encounters!
I am actually running Curse right now and have plans on using Part 6 of Rise of the Runelords and Part 6 of Shattered Star before sending my PC's after Illeosa. Having Rune forged weapons to take out a mythic version of the evil queen will be quite fun for my pc's. (I do a lot of adjustments to my games so what you ask has crossed my mind several times, although not for the same AP's.) :D
look at this AP like you looked at all the others, you might not play in it, nor might you GM it, but it could give you numerous ideas for other characters you might run, in-depth information on the country it is based in, NPC's worthy of using in a different campaign, unique magic items (because there are always a few in every AP), and spells/armor/weapons unique to the region.
Skulls and Kingmaker didn't do it for me, but I have them and read through them occasionally. Skulls inspires my ship to ship combat need, and Kingmaker has so many natural area maps that they can be re-used over and over again. (Like the mite hideout and the bandit lord's ruins in the first book of that AP.)
There ideas are just the tip of the iceberg for me.
I have played the token evil character in the Second Darkness AP. It was a LE monk, the type that is angry at the world for the way his lot in life had ended up, exiled from his homeland, and ending up in Riddleport practically pennyless.
There was no problem ever in the group other than some banter back and forth about how my choices seemed harsh, but all the pc's knew that I was loyal and had their back. so they let my brutality slide a few times. Of course, they all knew that my entire character arc was to finally accept myself and my fate, forgive those that had wronged me, and change from LE to LN.
It worked out great and is the most memorable of the AP's I have played to date.
(of course, I am a very experienced player, I know how to RP, and like I said, the players knew that they were not going to experience the evil of character wealth being stolen or being stabbed in the back.)
There was this battle in the underdark where we fought this duelist type drow noble. I dropped him down a pit (possibly bottomles) after knocking him unconcious.
I will always remember one of the players screaming out at the table... "Oh my GOD!!! His Loot!"
in character I simply said, "and you think I am nasty greedy bastard...?"
I have been playing pathfinder for several years on and off. Two of my biggest issues (and in fact many of my co-players as well) have been.
1. Power level of the players.
2. Complexity of rules.
Without going into a bunch of details that have been outlined in countless other threads the basic theme of Pathfinder is make the characters very powerful and hard to defeat. For some this is great, for others it makes the game lose a lot of the element of danger and fear and even respect of the players. My group will walk into just about any encounter with almost not a care in the world. They fully expect to win and if they do end up seriously injured they furl their eyebrows in confusion. Gone are the old school days of the players arguing about who has to go first, now its a race to the front of the pack to be the one to slay the monsters. Like I said, some like this others miss the fear players used to have in older games. Btw, this is just from the Core Rules, we haven't tried adding Mythic powers. I can't imagine why you would need them. My players already feel like gods on earth. And yes, I know you can find ways to challenge them (Please spare me the posts explaining how you do it as I already have my own ways that work), but the game system is arguably designed with player power baked in and at the forefront. And it only continues to grow and grow and grow with each new release.
D&D Next seems to be trying to find more of a balance by lowering the power level of the players from the start. This I really like and look forward to seeing how it develops. But everything I have read I like so far, like lower Armor Classes for the characters.
As for complexity, lets face it we have a zillion feats, spells, class powers, archetypes, monsters, monster templates, conditions, prestige classes, race abilities...heck we even have story feats. I am all for options but after several years I have only used Core, Bestiary 1, 2, some adventure path stuff and some background stuff. That's it and we still haven't...
Arg, not another old school gamer complaining again...
I hope I don't offend you, but you complain about a zillion feats, spells, etc... yet you only use Core and Bestiary 1&2. What are you really complaining about here? Your exaggerations to try to prove your point are noted, but YOUR game IS basic.
We don't try to make you use the suppliments. So why complain on these forums about game content you don't even use?
I just don't get this rambling about to powerful of a core system.
But since you posted on these forums for me to read, I must post my disagreement of it for you to read.
You sound like an experienced gamer. if you played 2.0, 3.x, and now pathfinder (not counting any of the other systems out there) then you know that your complexity argument had no basis unless you think all the D^D rule systems were to complex.
I think you are grasping for reasons to complain to be honest (as most old school gamers did when 3.x came out). I can guarantee you wont find a system that does what you want unless you make the adjustments to it as GM.
That is what this game is all about. If you want your players to feel like they are in an old school game, then make the changes you need to make. As GM it is on your shoulders to make those changes, and by what you posted, your players want that right?
So do something about it rather than complain on these boards.
I really don't feal that this cover art makes me think mythic or anything close, kinda disapointing. Maybe if the dragon was covered in glowing runes or had a halo of light around it.
This book and Ultimate Campaign have not convinced me to reniew my subscription to this line anytime soon.
Is it the art that keeps you from renewing your subscription or the actual content of the book?
If it is the latter, then I totally agree with you for Ultimate Campaign. Mythic Adventures, however, is an outstanding book IMO.
Love the mythic tier abilities and spells. I would put the mythic feats at the bottom of the things I like about the book (and I still liked those too!)
Since a Halbard is a Pole-arm it gets a 10ft reach!
I swear I thought this was true.
Now, a year after the incident, I get an email from by buddy in the game that has his son standing in front of a rack of halbards. His note on the email said, and I quote,
"We came across this display in the main hall at Edinburgh Castle this afternoon. Note that the weapon directly to Austin's left is a halbard ... Note the haft length, when compared to all the other pole arms. Definitely not a reach weapon."
Yep, have run many adventures in ABsolom, and one of the things that jumps out at me in the cities history is that Aroden specifically created the city to be unconquerable.
So, with that in mind, we have a gods handy craftsmanship, 5000 years of history to back it up, and a thousand sunken ships in its harbor.
Shouldn't that be enough of a hint that a few adventurers of 16-18th level shouldn't have a chance in the nine hells of succeeding?
Dhampirs have resist level drain not ability drain so they would be affected normally.
if they had hp damage, the wraith touch would heal them the 1d6 of negative energy damage. but they would have to make that dc17 fort save to keep from being drained 1d6 con
Resist Level Drain (Ex): A dhampir takes no penalties
from energy drain effects, though he can still be killed
if he accrues more negative levels then he has Hit Dice. After 24 hours,
any negative levels a dhampir takes are removed without the need for an
additional saving throw.
As you see, ability drain is not mentioned. And for the wraith, the damage specifically states...
Melee incorporeal touch +6 (1d6 negative energy plus 1d6 Con drain)
The con drain is not negative energy even though you might think it is due to the fact it is an undead creature
I play a dhampir in this campaign7, and I would love nothing more than to have the ability to resist ability drain. :D
Final comment, this may not be obvious, but I don't allow crafting to enable players to have more wealth than recommended. So yes, you can craft stuff at half the price you'd buy it for, but no, I won't let them end up with double recommended wealth. As players craft more, bad guys have less treasure to be looted and converted into components.
I really hate that kind of reasoning. It's just unfair to players who take crafting feats.
Take two wizards. One wizard takes a few crafting feats, the other instead takes a few feats to make their magic more effective instead (spell perfection, metamagic feats, whatever.) Which one is better off? It's tough to say; the second wizard is better and more flexible with his own magic, but the first wizard has more wands and toys to play with. They're probably pretty balanced.
Unless the DM then goes and deliberately unbalances the first wizard by giving him less gold for no reason. Then the second wizard without crafting feats is clearly better off; he just buys the stuff instead of making it with the extra gold the DM is giving him for no reason, and just ends up being more powerful.
If a player wants to use his feats/skills/traits to get more gold (crafting, professions, the traits that let you start with money), then that's fine. He then has less feats and skills and traits to use during the adventure, but that's balanced with the fact that he probably has slightly better equipment to compensate. If you take that away, then that's just unfairly treating one play-style worse then a different playstyle.
Hey, if you really don't want your players to be crafters, then just don't let them be crafters. Don't let them use their feats for that and then cripple them to a point where it does them no good.
Ding DIng DIng, Yosarian wins "most reasonable and intelligent" poster for this thread. I could go into a long post to support this thought by Yosarian, but really, he has said it all, and was very concise.
Ahmen brother. In my group, we play at my house, use my books, my models, I bring pizza EVERY TIME, and the only thing they bother to bring is dice. At one point, one of them wanted me to drive all the way into Toronto (roughly an hour and a half long trip) and buy him a new model with my money because he was unhappy with the model that was available. Then they have the gaul to get mad at ME when I want to switch things up a bit. When I brought up the aforementioned things I had one of them say to me with a completely straight face 'those are all unimportant'.
To quote penny arcade: 'players are vampires'.
Most gaming groups I have DM'd for fit the words of the Smashing Pumpkins best...
the world (gaming group) is a vampire, sent to drain
secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
and what do i get, for my pain
betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Gloves of the Impossible Bottle AuraFaint Transmutation CL 5th
Slot Hands Price 1500gp Weight -
Description
When Equipped, these very thin translucent silk gloves conform to fit the hands like a second skin. On command, once per day, the wearer can place his hands through solid glass. The glass barrier must be non-magical, and be no more than one inch thick. Only the hands and wrists, which the gloves cover, are allowed to penetrate the glass. While inside the glass, spells can be cast as if the barrier were not between the target and the caster, and skill checks requiring the hands are made without penalty. In addition to this, a single item of up to one pound of non-living material, can be carried through the glass. The item must be small enough to fit in one of the wearers hands. Once the gloves are placed through the glass, movement of the hands more than one foot in any direction causes the glove's magic to end. The duration is 10 minutes, or until one of the gloves is removed. If the magic of the gloves is suppressed, or it's duration ends, the wearer's hands are ejected from the glass with no ill effects. Both gloves must be worn for the magic to be effective.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Meld into Stone or Pass Wall, Prestidigitation Cost 750gp
Treasure Posts over the course of the game: (main ones)
Temple of Nethys (add on)
Spoiler:
Here it is:
CR5 child Were Tiger: 1600xp
CR2 Tracking to Temple: 600xp
CR2 Finding underground Entrance: 600xp
CR3 Solving puzzle for opening entrance: 800xp
CR5 Battle with Spiders attacking horses: 1600xp
CR2 Battle with Two Gynosphynx animated objects: 600xp
CR3 Figuring out traps on 4 entranceway statues: 800xp
CR4 Battle with Altar Summoned Asp: 1200xp
CR6 Battle with Haidar the cursed (were tiger): 2400xp
CR5 Storyline Completion for clearing out Temple: 1600xp
Totals: 11800xp so that is 2360xp each, which puts you at 10,xxx which is enough to level. We will do everything with leveling at the next game, just have your stuff ready to put down on your character sheet (but dont change it yet) as there are still some things that can happen before you rest for the evening. :D
Whoever wrote down the treasure please shoot that to me as I added a some extra gold to compensate for the higher dr of the encounters and cant find my sheet. Here is what I have, please let me know what I forgot. Thanks:
(2) golden figurines (non-magical) of the gynosphynxes (worth 150gp each) bad appraise makes you think they are 100gp each.
Magical Bloodstained silk veil
Magical jade praying mantis figurine
Magical Punching Dagger (En-Nebi) (Haidar)
2 Cure Light Potions (I think already consumed)
1 Cure Serious (already consumed)
Magical Chain Shirt (Haidar)
850gp
443gp
The spells on the pillars that can be inscribed in a spell book or cast off the pillar:
Mage Armor
Color Spray
Burning Hands
Continual Flame
Grease
Shocking Grasp
Sleep
(this is added as I missed treasure when you all made that perception check in the upper ruins of a 31)
1) A golden Pectoral (worth 1350gp)
2) Silver/Black Gold Mask of Nethys magical (one half silver, the other, enchanted black gold)
3) Magical Bronze Scarab
82sp
Attack on the Fort (Death of Dashki, Narg, and Orcella (The elven necromancer)
Spoiler:
Greetings everyone. Here is the breakdown of the full inventory of the Fort you took over. Everyone will be level 6 at the begining of next game, and here is how the xp broke down...
First off, you currently have 13,636xp and are 5th level.
XP each = 5120xp
Giving you all 18,756xp and 6th level.
7th level will be earned at 23,000 instead of 21,000 like old 3.5, so just 4k away from that achievement.
Alright, now here is the loot breakdown (most of which you know about). Red items were things I missed because my loot sheet was in my desert terrain bag (which you know I left sitting in my room instead of in my big box).
Dashki: Potion of Serious Wounds x2 (one has blood all over the vial from 3 severed fingers spurting all over it) Potion of Cats Grace, +2 Glamoured Studded Leather, Boots of Striding +5ft. Movement, MW Scimitar, Short Sword +1.
Narg: Potion of Expeditious Retreat, Flindbar +1 (+2damage with pin), Handwraps of Mage armor 1/day 1st level caster, Book of the Brutal Fist (weapon specialization without the fighter pre-requisite.
Orcella: Bag of Holding, Ring of minor empowerment (3/day 2nd level or lower spells), Spell Book, Unholy symbol of Asmodeous, MW Great Axe w/materials for +1 enchantment, MW heavy repeating crossbow w/materials for +1 enchantment, (3) Scrolls which I forgot to write down on my main sheet here but we have the cards and I will update this email once I get those.
Shaman: Kayeffi of charisma +2, (which I never got to cast a spell from this hoe), ring of feather falling.
You also found two messages from the Carrion King.
1) Asks Orcella to check out the progress of the Circle Tribe on finding an item. The item name is not mentioned, but there is no doubt that Orcella and the Carrion King know what this item is by the tone of the message. It is written in Common.
2) Asks Orcella to ramp up the building of a force of gnolls because the Carrion King "marches soon" to battle. Also written in common.
Both of these messages have no date on them, but the battle march message looks older (or looks like it has sit on her shelf longer) than the one about the Circle tribes escavation and search.
Gold and other valuables found:
Dashki: 275gp, silver banded ruby ring with inscription on inside of band (written in gnoll) 400gpv.
Narg: 15 Silver Shuriken (unballanced) -1 to hit but worth 25gp in raw silver material, iron banded ruby ring with inscription on inside of band (written in gnoll) worth 200gpv, and 275gp.
Orcella: (found in the bag of holding or in her private quarters) 4000gp, 500pp, 18 assorted crude and uncut jewels worth about 800gp, and a MW pair of Slippers (like she was preparing another item for enchantment) worth 125gp.
suits of leather armor x7
suits of hide armor x4
suits of studded leather x8
spears x10
short bows x7
arrows x442
wooded shields (light) x5
wooden shields (heavy) x2
lots of crap (clothing and various other things that might as well just be burned with the dead bodies)
Final Assault on the Town of Kelmarane
Spoiler:
Greetings to everyone.
Here is the official email for the closing of AP#19 Howl of the Carrion King.
I know everyone was super excited to finally get INSIDE Kelmarane. It was a long time coming, and I think the entire infiltration, execution, and finishing off of Kardswann, was so perfectly done, that I have thought about it all afternoon and evening.
I would like your feedback on what you thought of this part of the adventure. It is important to me to know if you think it was to easy, a cake walk, you were not challenged, etc... So please leave me feedback at your convenience.
Now, for the goodies. First off, everyone should have 23,001xp before this stuff is added.
Calculations for final day encounters:
Encounter 1: Harpie Lair (The mill) EL8 encounter (4x CR4 Harpies pg.172 CoreMM)
XP: 4800
Securing Allies during infiltration: + CR8 Encounter
XP: 4800
Completing Howl of the Carrion King according to Almah's wishes: +CR8 encounter
XP: 4800
Total XP gained by encounters: 50,000
Total XP per player: 10,000
Giving everyone 33,001 xp.
With 8th level being 34000, i am going to give you that xp during the 18 month layoff between adventure AP's. So, when everyone is doing their special things during that year and a half, they will be 8th level, and you can craft anything you meet the requirements for out of the Core Rule Book once you throw it past me for approval. :D
Now, for the treasure. I will put it down and list the source next to it. Any further questions just shoot me a message.
+1 Halberd (Large) - Kezurkian the goat demon
+1 Quarter Staff - Halruun the fallen priest of Sarenrae
+2 Large Breastplate - Kardswann the unpleasant
+1 Lawful Outsider Bane Great Axe (large) - Kardswann the unplesant
(4) masterwork studded leather suits of armor - Harpy Nest (mill)
1600gp + 4 garnets worth 100gp/ea in locked chest - Harpy Nest (mill)
Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds and Expeditious Retreat - Ugruk the not so large
+2 Defender Flindbar - Ugruk the not so large
From the lost members of the Lions of Senara, Andrus, Claire, Filipped, and Oxvard give you the belongings of their dead companions:
ring of protection +1, a cloak of resistance+1, masterwork chainmail, a +1 dagger, a wand of bull’s strength (8 charges), 4 applications of silversheen, an amulet of natural armor +1, a cloak of Charisma +2, and slippers of spider climbing(YES, I CANT BELIEVE I AM GIVING THIS OUT...), light mace +1, brooch of shielding (10charges)
Chest Containing:
(this chest was in Kardswann's chamber)
Jewels and Gems worth 4200gp
3113 pp
5246 gp
1227 sp
4561 cp
A solid gold classical genie Lamp adorned with 40 small sapphires worth 900gp
Gifts from the Church of Sarenrae for liberating the temple: phylactery of faithfulness, a periapt of Wisdom +2, and a necklace of fireballs (type III)
Enjoy the loot and start fighting over it. Please attach all emails regarding treasure to me.
So why are some books "worse" than other books? Well, think about it in game terms. When you develop or edit a book, you make your develop or edit rolls. Sometimes you roll really high and hit it out of the park. Sometimes you roll low and what comes out isn't up to your usual par. Developers and Editors have good days and bad days, just like anybody else. With more products on the schedule, you just have more chances for having that "bad roll" than you would if there were less products. But the bad rolls would happen even if there was one product coming out per year. Looking back, you have to be pretty impressed with the rate that we hit things out of the park vs. not being up to snuff. My staff members have pretty high numbers in their skills. :)
I take it that Adventurers Armory was a fumble then.
If we were to be brutally honest, when it comes to stat blocks, gramatical errors, and sentence structure, Lisa Stevens explanation of fumbling is pretty lame in my opinion. I believe, of all the complaints I have read, the amount of errors seems many. But I will admit that I am not making a comparison with pathfinder and wotc. I am simply surprised at the amount of errors I catch on my own and I am no editor.
Theodoric Maximus has not participated in any online campaigns.
