DeadlyUematsu's page

I'd like to run this. Looking for 3-5 people (already got one person). Please let me know if you've played this AP before and how far.

Don't think I ever received this. Is there a way of verifying that it was delivered successfully?

Looking to run some PF, 3.5, or Champions at King's Games Monday Nights on either a weekly or biweekly basis. Post here if you're interested.

DU

I just checked my order history page and I noticed that my pending order has a copy of Council of Thieves Part 2: The Sixfold Trial also pending. I already received this adventure in September so is it possible for this pending copy of the AP adventure to be removed? I can wait for my other subscriptions to be sent along with CoT Part 3.

I received an e-mail that this was shipped on the 14th of September but have not received anything. Just want a confirmation on whether or not this was shipped.

This is a 3.5E D&D campaign where we will be playing through the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path. Time, tool, and player-wise, I would like to hold game sessions on Sunday afternoons from 1 PM to 6 PM EST bi-weekly using both MapTools and Skype for five players.

The main books we will be using are the PHB, DMG, and MM. Material from official Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting supplements and web enhancements can be used with notification while material from other D&D supplements must be requested. In all respects, I reserve the right as DM to decline and retroactively remove any game mechanics that prove problematic.

Story-wise, players are advised to download and read the Player's Guide to the Curse of the Crimson Throne and make characters that fit based on the information therein. Mechanically, all characters should start at 1st level and generate ability scores using the standard 4d6, drop lowest, and arrange to taste method. Be sure to use an online dice roller like InvisibleCastle and send me the appropriate URLs so that I can verify your dice rolls. As normal, take maximum hit points at first level and for starting wealth, just take your initial character class' maximum starting gold.

I have several house rules in effect as well. First, the minimum hit die size is d6. Second, the minimum number of skill points per level is 4. Third, all bonus feats accured by fighters are wild card feats, all of which can be changed after five minutes of uninterrupted practice. Fourth, monks get full BAB and finally, rangers get sneak attack damage dice equal to thier favored enemy bonus when attacking said favored enemy.

Regarding stuff I absolutely do not want to see, please do not use any of the following when making or advancing your characters:
-Like Something Else, Only Better (e.g. The Skeleton and Zombie Dragon templates from Draconomicon).
-Someone Was Asleep At the Wheel (e.g. The Planar Shephard).
-Stuff That Doesn't Fit The Campaign Setting.

Also, do not make use of the following "legal" rules abuses or anything similar:
-Spell Dancing.
-More Wishes.
-Balor Mining.
-Phoenix Duplication.
-Chain Binding.
-Theoretically Broken (e.g. Risen Martyr).
-Campaign Smashers.
-Broken Anything.

You can privately contact me about this campaign at the_densetsu@yahoo.com

It would be cool if these (from Mastering Iron Heroes) showed up in some form in Pathfinder. Whaddaya think?

Here are my opinions after some playtesting...

Dwarves
Keen Senses: Taste- and smell-based perception skill checks are nowhere as common as sound- and sight-based perception skill checks. This need to be +3.
Hearty: This needs to scale. My 20th level dwarf fighter with a Will Save of +19 (+6 Class +4 Wis +2 Race +2 Feat +5 Resist) is always a coin flip away from falling prey to a dominate monster or imprisonment by a 20th level elven wizard (29 DC; 10 Base +10 Int +9 Spell) and would be worse off if he did not heavily invest in the near necessities of Iron Will, a Cloak of Resistance, Wisdom, and Wisdom enhancing items.
Hatred: Either the bonus needs to scale or this racial feature needs an expansion of utility beyond simply being able to hit orcs and goblins more often.

Elves
Elven Immunities: Not as all-encompassing as the dwarves' Hearty feature so the save bonus against enchantment spells ought to be higher and immunity to magical sleep effects (which are rare) do not justify it being kept as +2. It also needs to scale for the same reasons the dwarf's hearty racial feature bonus needs to scale.
Elven Magic: The Appraise bonus requires spending skill points. Not a lot of fun.

Gnomes
Keen Senses: See the dwarf entry for the argument regarding this racial feature.
Obssessive: You need to spend skill points to make use of this feature.
Illusion Resistant: Needs to be higher for the same reasons the elves immunity bonus needs to be higher.
Hatred: See the dwarf entry for the argument regarding the Hatred feature attack bonus.

Half-Orc
Orc Ferocity: This is not a great feature in the beginning and is totally oblivated at high levels thanks to all of the damage enemies are tossing out at high levels. Please replace this with something else.

Halfling
Halfling Luck: Should scale. Another +1 at level 10 looks good.
Fearless: Should scale but since it stacks with Halfling Luck, it doesn't have to scale much. Another +1 at level 10 sounds good.

Human
Weapon Training: And what happens if your class grants proficiency with all martial weapons? This needs to be addressed.

Inspired by Virgil's high level playtesting, I tried some as well, focusing solely on combat. I calculated that a sole 15th level character has a APL of 11 and then made several EL 11 fights to run each class through. Having finished testing three combats, here are my opinions...

7 Wraiths
Fighter 15: A ghost touch weapon is a necessity. Armor training is negated - bleh. The fighter can withstand the storm of draining touchs. If the wraiths had fly-by attack, the fighter would definitely need a means of flying to keep up with his mobile adversaries.
Wizard 15: Undeath to death wins this fight. If the wizard doesn't win initiative, he MIGHT have to endure some drains depending on what he's prepared beforehand - a potentially deadly situation.
Paladin 15: Same as the fighter, but the paladin has no armor training to negate and he can also channel positive energy to damage the wraiths - not as good as a cleric, but preferable to making potentially wasted attacks if he doesn't have a ghost touch weapon.
Rogue 15: This battle can swing. A rogue with max ranks in UMD can utilize divine spell scrolls and therefore conceivably use Undeath to Death to finish this fight fast (more likely he'll just eliminate five of the wraiths). Otherwise, he might endure several drains before winning if he has maxed his AC - totally okay. Just like a fighter, one of his class features is negated (sneak attack). Having a ghost touch weapon makes this fight more beatable.
Sorcerer 15: Same as the wizard, except Undeath to Death is probably not one of the most useful spell choices a sorcerer can make.
Cleric Level 15: Undeath to Death. With his good Fortitude save, he can weather the wraiths' drains if he has to.
Druid Level 15: The druid has a savior in the form of Sunburst. The only problem with using Sunburst is that the druid is using his 8th level spell slot for the day.
Barbarian 15: Same as the fighter except one of his class abilities (armor training) isn't rendered useless.

1 Treant, 2 Tendriculous, and 2 Shambling Mounds
Fighter 15: With the treant animating trees, the fighter is facing 7 opponents total - all of which are just as HP heavy as the fighter and have brutal melee full attacks. Fortunately, armor training gives the fighter an awesome AC which makes him practically unhittable. Power Attack also helps deal with the huge HP scores. Nevertheless, a ring of freedom of movement, boots of speed, and means of flying make this battle more secure.
Wizard 15: Fly and spam spells. This is an easy fight for the wizard.
Paladin 15: Same as the fighter but his situation is more grim. He doesn't have as nearly good an AC so he needs the above magic items (ring of freedom of movement, boots of speed, means of flying) more than the fighter.
Rogue 15: The rogue COULD max out his AC and blink tank his way through this fight. Alternatively, he can UMD a Blasphemy scroll and take out the treant and shambling mounds out of the fight. The tendriculous are still a problem though so the rogue needs to bring a club. Like the fighter, a ring of freedom of movement, boots of speed, and means of flying make this fight more secure. The fact that sneak attacks are usless in this fight sucks.
Sorcerer 15: Same as the wizard.
Cleric Level 15: Dictum or Blasphemy will win this fight - Blasphemy especially.
Druid Level 15: Antilife Shell or wildshape for flight and retain spellcasting with Natural Spell. Spam away.
Barbarian 15: Same as the paladin except the barbarian can totally go nova and improve his odds by using Powerful Blow with Power Attack whenever he has the opportunity given the opponents' ACs are only 16 and 20.

2 Efreeti and 1 Erinyes Devil
Fighter 15: The fighter's low will save plus erinyes' charm monster makes the fighter likely to lose this round in the first round. With the erineyes asking the efreets for wishes, the fighter's chances for winning this fight are heavily weighed on getting initiative and destroying the erinyes. The low HP scores of the efreet make easy prey.
Wizard 15: Banishment wins this fight BUT the erineyes can simply wish herself and her companions back. The wizard should destroy the erinyes first and then banish the efreets. The wizard's good Will save minimize its chances of being charmed.
Paladin 15: The paladin is built for these opponents. His divine grace, smite evil, aura of faith, divine bond, and spells make him defensively and offensively potent. He still needs to defeat the erinye first but it isn't as desperate as in the fighter's case.
Rogue 15: You can UMD your way out of this situation but a rogue also has the option of feinting the erinyes and hitting with a sneak attack. It's just not the best option - seriously UMD your way out of this.
Sorcerer 15: Same as wizard.
Cleric Level 15: Same as wizard. A cleric casting banishment is far better off than any other spellcaster since he needs a sixth level spell slot to pull off this trick.
Druid Level 15: Wildshape for pounce and maul that erinyes. The druid doesn't need any real strategy to take out the low HP efreet.
Barbarian 15: The barbarian with Clear Mind is better prepared against the erinyes' charm monster ability. Otherwise, his situation is similar to that of the fighter.

Overall Opinions So Far: Fighters, barbarians, paladins, and rogues are still really gear-dependent. I don't like this. Also, if spellcasters prepare (or have) the right spells, they can turn fights into cakewalks. I recommend giving non-spellcasters the spell-like abilities they need at high levels (FLIGHT) automatically while not really improving or nerfing spellcasters (since most of thier potency came from preparing the right spells).

I'll run some more tests and see how things go.

Here are my opinions after some rough playtesting....

Arcane Strike: This feat is only good for bards and while it is okay at low levels (1-3), it is not good enough once PCs start getting access to magic weapons (4+). The overcome damage reduction and +1 bonus to damage are just too paltry.

Backswing: This is decent at high levels. Primary fighters will almost always hit with thier first attack in a full attack so getting another attack at one's highest attack bonus for a successful hit is great. The hit to damage is not that bothersome either. With haste, a two-handed fighter can muster six attacks per round - useful but it doesn't add anything NEW to the warrior toolkit at high levels.

Cleave: A good low-level feat which (for the most part) covers the old version's capabilities and adds something new.

Dazzling Display: This is more like it! It gives warriors some form of short-term group debuff (through inflicting the shaken status) and could be very useful into high levels because if multiple warriors do it at the same time, they have a good chance of inflicting frightened and panicked status on a good portion of the opposition. I love it!

Devastating Blow: This is a good upgrade to the fighter's standard action attack and affords the fighter some mobility at high level.

Dodge: Good low-level. A bit better than before, but since it's a prerequisite to better feats so it doesn't have to be stronger.

Gorgon's Fist: Good control move. The staggered condition it inflicts makes the feat very useful against thwarting melee-based opponents and pinning artillery to a particular spot. The duration and exemptions to the staggered condition infliction also keeps the feat from being cheesy. It's also only a standard action, making it great through middle levels. It can be very useful into high levels but iterative attacks might take precedence.

Great Cleave: Like Cleave except it allows you to hit all adjacent opponents at most once as long as you can keep hitting. It's a great mook sweeper but I cannot say much else. Whirlwind Attack is better at being a straightforward AoE attack. Then again, Great Cleave is only a standard action so you can move before or after the feat.

Lightning Stance: I don't like this feat. Needing to move or withdraw makes it good only for escaping. It would be MUCH better if you could use either fighting defensively or total defense and "blink tank" with it.

Manyshot: I like the old Manyshot more since it allowed mobility. However, this is simpler and more straightforward. An Str 16 archer with an composite bow can inflict an additional 7 points with his full attack on average making this good at mid levels. At high levels, the bonus damage just gets better however damage reduction and lack of additional precision-based damage reduces the usefulness.

Overhand Chop: Good low-level, poor mid-level and beyond.

Scorpion Style: Good control against mobile foes.

Shield Slam: Good control manuever for mid level characters, a useful addition to a sword and board fighter's toolkit. Against the numerous giant-sized opponents that high level characters face, its utility reduces at high levels.

Stunned Defense: Great in conjunction with Intimidate (Dazzling Display) and Deadly Stroke.

Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike: These feats don't seem all too great. Since you're only getting bonus damage dice with the trade-in and it doesn't multiply, your base average damage only increases slightly and the increase doesn't make up for the loss of iterative attacks. Only useful if you're facing a lot of opponents whose AC you cannot possibly hit with your third or fourth iterative attacks. Still, this is a high level feat and it should be better.

Wind Stance: It's okay, not great.

Overall Opinion: I like what I am seeing in regards to the movement control abilities (Scorpion Style, Gorgon's Fist, Shield Slam). I also like Dazzling Display and also Stunned Defense and Deadly Stroke since they build on that. Please continue adding more of these battlefield control abilities for warriors and monks.

However, I would like to see Wind Stance and Lighting Stance improved - make them more flexible defensive options. I would also like to see Arcane Strike improved or more feats built atop of Arcane Strike so warrior-mages have some toys to play with at mid to high levels. Also, Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike need much more oomph being high level feats.

My latest shipment from Paizo arrived and the Gazetteer was missing. What steps can I take to correct this?