Yes. Its called hyperbole used correctly.
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Were there many reasons why Japan did not attempt a US invasion? Yes. Resources, the Battle of Midway, not in expansionist objectives, etc. Did remaining military officials state, after the war, when asked that one reason they did not was because of the armed citizenry? Yes. Does discounting the last reason because it doesn't fit your narrative for your argument sound like a typical lefty ploy? YES.
Than why is it without fail one the first act of police states? If guns in privbate cirizens hands don't matter?
Ignoring history. Just as an aside here. It should probably be pointed out that during WWII, the only reason the Japanese did not invade the west coast is, according to their own military documents, they were aware that US citizens were armed and it deterred them from doing so. Just ... you know. History.
Inner Sea World Guide also mentioned the Neutral dead being transformed into Aeons to serve Pharasma (I think the psychopomps are also an option for the Neutral dead). I do remember somewhere it mentioning that atheists were condemned to be buried in the necropolis of the Boneyard and have no reward. I forget where I saw that. I think firefly though has it right about even the true neutral farmer who worships mainly Erastil would end up with Erastil in Heaven.
I had Adivion attend Lorrimor's funeral. Also I had run 1-on-1 sessions with each player before starting the AP to help establish their background with Lorrimor (so rather than them choosing a Campaign Trait, they played it out). The Wizard PC was put in jail in Korvosa during his 1-on-1 and was jailmates with Lorrimor and Adivion (who were at the time adventuring together ... this would be a few years prior to the events of the AP). Adivion was never forgotten throughout the AP, especially since the same Wizard PC fell in love with Kendra who had been engaged to Adivion. So there was a rivalry there. That Adivion ended up being the main bad guy was quite a turn of events for them.
Yay. A list with my item on it (Cloak of Rest). Sadly while it made the cull, I don't think it was pop-out good enough and too ordinary perhaps. Oh well. Thanx for the list!
Yeah I didn't mean by "everyone wants it" to mean munchkin. I just meant something that has a mechanic that is useful anyone, no matter what class/role they are. I tend to leave class specific or character specific items, as a DM, to ones I devise myself to fit that particular character and which has some sort of developing feature (like Legendary items from 3.5).
I think its a combination of what LoreKeeper said and yourself P33J. I tend to like items that are concept oriented, that one might actually build a concept around, or is good for the whole party without being SIAC or SAK. As an addendum to that, I like items that scale with your level, or do so for at least a good chunk of levels. I mainly DM, and the turnover rate on items can be extreme. Even ones I've created for the party, get replaced 1 level later and its like "Well shoot, I actually worked on that." I learned that lesson some time ago. The more an item has the potential to both scale to level as well as usable by many different classes, the more likely it is to remain within the party, if not the same person. And those are the items which become "old favourites" and your players remember.
I don't know why I'm responding ... I'm bored I guess. A) I did not say Christianity was a religion of peace and Islam a religion of violence. In fact I was careful not to make big sweeping statements like that. B) You're using the Old Testament for the infidel-killing stuff for Christianity. That doesn't theologically fly, sorry. I'm not saying that the Church has not committed its errors in the past, it most certainly has. And it recognizes the errors it has made, time and time again, although no one listens to it because they'd rather continue using things like the Crusades and the Inquisition as their ammunition. C) I only mentioned my training in Christian and Islamic theology so that I could be understood not to be making stuff up out of thin air. I also specifically stated it didn't make me an expert. D) I've apologized for derailment and I honestly am sorry ... it was a late night, ongoing thread that just sort of got away from us. Would you like me to say a Hail Mary for penance?
It's been a while since I read them, but wouldn't the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen Donaldson fit the bill here? It seems that every victory in those stories came at enormous cost, either a physical decimation, or doing the right thing set someone squarely on the horns of a moral/ethical dilemma, which then led to physical decimation... well, you get the idea. I have not read the Thomas Covenant series in a long time, but they are beautifully crafted and pretty much fit the bill. Covenant is one of the most interesting fantasy genre characters ever. Big thumbs up here for a recommendation.
Have you ever read Hamlet or Titus? :) It doesn't get much worse than than Titus. I remember my mom giving me the complete collection of Shakespeare's plays when I was 10. Not knowing any better I started at the beginning (Tragedies came first) with Titus Andronicus. After finishing it I went to my mom, looked at her and said, "Are you entirely sure this is age appropriate?" I was a snarky kid :)
That is flat out wrong. Mussolini's fascism was born out of socialist corporatism and was a direct response to laissez-faire capitalism. Was is about the working class? No ... its form of socialism was about creating a national body defined by the means of production in control of the state ... which is an aspect of socialism. The Nazis (National Socialists) were the same thing only they flavored it with putting the yoke of blame for laissez-faire capitalism on the Jews. But it was still the same idea. In simple terms communism = workers of the world unite ... fascism = workers of <country> unite for the sake of <country>. But its still based on a socialist economic program. Yes the conversation has been derailed, sorry for my part in that. I don't usually jump into these kind of conversations and only did so at the beginning because on a daily basis I see passive acceptance of bigotry against Christianity and people of faith as being described as unintelligent, without reason and any other insults veiled in pseudo-intellectual claptrap that I just felt like responding. I guess I learned my lesson ... that passive acceptance is well ... acceptable here. So I'll shut up.
You're right on all counts Steven.
Wait wait wait ... are you both actually trying to make the argument that Communism and Fascism are not forms of socialism? Now the reason why socialism is part of what feeds the mass murdering part is because socialism allows for power to reside within the state which then needs to enforce its redistribution of labor and wealth ... these are cornerstones of socialism. Sure you have socialist democracies in Europe which are not dictatorships ... their economy health is a whole other discussion ... but every one of those listed communists and fascists have socialism as the driving force behind their agenda and ideaological dictatorship. Socialism also tends to stress secularism ... statism becomes the new "religion". Its why socialism does lend itself towards dictatorship more easily, it doesn't always follow that way, but its interesting that the majority of dictators in the world in the 20th century were ... socialist of one breed or another. Yes theocracies are a form of dictatorship, especially where you make the State and the Religion one and the same (Iran being the right example to use there). And they are prone to committing atrocities as well.
I will never understand why people like to deny this ... some interesting numbers can be found here: http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM This is one of my favourite tables from that study: http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.TAB1.4.GIF I see a lot of socialists there. I don't see how the statement I made above is ridiculous.
.... or you can go with the "you're stupid" snark which is not really a conversation. So I'm done. Enjoy your cookies.
"Every atrocity of the last 150 years can be placed at the feet of secular authorities!" You are connected to the internet. Stop saying stupid things that can be trivially disproved with one Google search. There's actually a big difference between "almost every" and "Every" ... you're misquoting me. I was not saying that there are no religious based atrocities in the last 150 years. My comments on Islam were not meant to be tangental, but to speak to the question of fundamentalism, which has been bandied about in this thread as if we understand it to mean one thing when its application to different religions changes it connotations. "condemning fundamentalism in the context of both" is precisely what I mean ... fundamentalism means two entirely different things for those religions ... and also means something entirely different to a Catholic Christian and a Protestant Christian.
The last 150 years? Lets see ... almost every atrocity of the last 150s can be placed at the feet of socialists, marxists, maoists and fascists ... all of which are irreligious and secular in the extreme. Then you have the more recent Muslim terrorism. You said before you don't know much about the Muslim world ... well my degree is in religion with a focus on the Muslim world ... also I'm a Catholic with theological and philosophical training. I thought I'd just get that there so you'd know I'm speaking from study and experience ... I'm not claiming to be a self-appointed authority on the topics, only that its ... well what I am trained in. I hear many people when the question of fundamentalism is Islam come up rebut that with a claim that fundamentalist Christianity is just as dangerous. But the premise of that comparison is wrong. What is a fundamentalist Christian ... I don't mean in our American view of Fundamentalists or Evangelicals ... I just mean someone who is a Christian in a fundamental way ... their actions and speech totally absorbed in a Life with Christ. We actually have words for those people ... they're called Nuns and Monks. Now those who commit atrocities in the name of Christianity ... they're often brought up ... (I'm not going to get into a debate about the Crusades or the Inquisition since most are entirely ill-informed or improperly educated about the facts of those historical events and we were using a 150 year reference from what I saw) ... the point though is that at its core theological base, to commit murder and violence in the name of Christ is fundamentally an non-Christian act. The theology of Christianity doesn't support it ... you can say it all you want, but its just not true. Christianity is not at fault there ... those who pervert it for their violence are. Now lets take Islam. There are numerous suras (chapters/verses) that speak of peace and goodwill towards those of other faiths and the like. Then there are suras which ... well don't. That promote violence towards the infidel, etc. The "peaceful" suras were generally written earlier than the others ... and the text of the Qu'ran has as a foundation the concept that later suras supersede earlier suras. So when the Muslim extremist murders and commits violence in the name of Islam ... they actually have a theological underpinning for it that does not exist in Christianity. Now I'm not saying that Islam is evil or that all Muslims are evil ... what have you ... what I am saying is that Islamic theology has built within it an allowance for those acts of violence. And in the end it is up to Muslims to take a look at their own religion and decide what to do about it ... Christianity has certainly changed over the course of 2000 years and has moved away from the type of structure that would allow something like the evils (not as grievous as most people are taught) that were committed during the Crusades or the Inquisition. Also the Church doesn't hold the political power it did during those periods, nor does it wish to. You talk as if Christianity has not contributed anything to the world in the last 150 years ... I'm happy to cite examples of where you're wrong there ... Islam has also contributed greatly to society ... there's a list I could cite for it as well ... extreme secularism has given us the a list of -isms, all related, that have committed atrocities in the name of ... themselves ... for the last 150 years.
Climate change? Yeah no argument there ... seeing as the word climate means ... change ... climate changes ... its the nature of climate. "Us"? I'm sorry which group of people was I insulting? I thought, from the tenor of the conversation there, that calling out bigotry where it happens was what I was supposed to do. And I'm pretty sure "weak-willed" and "hivemind" was pretty much what religious people were being described as ... so very sorry that got turned around on you ... or whoever.
If you think that then you didn't understand the comment.If you look at all the religions of the world the majority of them aren't part of the industrialized world and the idea of human rights are foreign to them. Suggesting that that this debate is "going on in religion" is either silly or you are using the definition of religion the rest of the posters are, doctrinal, hierarchical religions in western, industrialized society. This I admit was a misread on my part of your statement. In my head, it meant something different than what you were saying.
I'm not sure pop culture differentiates whose minds it affects. To say that pop culture only affects the irreligious is...a confusing statement. I was talking about irreligious people. In what was are they all similar and believe things that is unique to them and not informed by generally agreed upon facts.The only "hive mind" I see present in irreligious people is where generally agreed upon facts are involved. You know, principles of physics, evolutionary biology, gravity, that the Internet is a good thing, etc. We believe these things, overwhelmingly, because we have studied them critically. Not because the pastor said so. No ... but faithful and religious people tend to be more resistant to the trends of hive mind beliefs in pop culture ... and sorry ... but thank God for that. When it comes to hive minding about agreed upon facts ... well that's an iffy one. Agreed upon facts ... like ... gravity, sure ... that's not hive minding though ... that's Fact. It doesn't matter what the hive mind thinks. Evolutionary biology .... hey also Fact (and you'll find the largest contingent of Christians in the world, Catholics, recognize the Fact by the way). The Internet is a good thing ... oookay ... sure I guess in that technological progress as a rule is a good thing for society, although that should never give a carte blanche to any technological advance. Global warming .... ooooo ... that one is a bit iffier ... definitely some hive minding going on there ... but still scientific hypothesis, not fact.
If you look at all the religions of the world the majority of them aren't part of the industrialized world and the idea of human rights are foreign to them. Suggesting that that this debate is "going on in religion" is either silly or you are using the definition of religion the rest of the posters are, doctrinal, hierarchical religions in western, industrialized society. As some of the greatest campaigners for human rights in the modern world, there are a number of churches and religious institutions who would take issue with your comment.
The only "hive mind" I see present in irreligious people is where generally agreed upon facts are involved. You know, principles of physics, evolutionary biology, gravity, that the Internet is a good thing, etc. We believe these things, overwhelmingly, because we have studied them critically. Not because the pastor said so. You kinda lost me with that first sentence there .... the "irreligious" have a tendency to hive mind about a lot of things ... all the time ... anyone who grew up from 1969 onward should know that. Pop culture has been a skipping record of hive mind mentality about a lot of things they thought or wished were facts. As for the whole science vs religion debate I've been noticing through this entire thread I've quietly been following ... well anyone who believe thats the two are mutually exclusive and have nothing to do with one another and do not inform one another have no understanding of the history of science or religion. There's a reason theology was called the "Queen of the Sciences" historically. Judaism and Christianity have as a cornerstone that Reason is one of the great gifts we are endowed with. The discovery of the mysteries of the scientific world through Reason, for historical Christianity and Judaism, is a religous endeavor (spare me the Galileo story, as the popular story is not what actually happened and it had nothing to do with his scientific discoveries), as it is a way towards Truth (I'm talking objective Truth here, not subjective truth ... if you're someone who has a sort of post modern belief in no objective, only subjective truth I'm not even interested in a discussion ... we're not starting on even square one with each other). In any case, it took only until page 2 for there to be an anti-Catholic, bigotted comment that no one called out ... so before anyone preaches "tolerance" take a closer look in the mirror. Compared to most threads related to any of these issues though y'all did pretty well ... so good for you.
I'm with Finn K on this one ... ... Its common sense really. Otherwise you're saying that, and picture it in your head, someone on a horse charges another person. They have a lance down and readied. The horse charges towards the target and upon reaching it .... the world goes into some nonsense world where the person on the horse gets to stab with the lance multiple times as he rides by? Basically that's what I'm seeing with the whole pro-pounce argument. Are you people seriously trying to argue that's kosher? Hang the literal interpretation of the rules (which I think that interpretation is wrong anyway) and arguments of RAW ... its just silly and you're being a bunch of ninnies about it.
If they invest resources in knowledge skills, I make sure they have a return on investment. +1 This here is a key point I think for DMs. I have players who ignore putting ranks in Knowledge because they don't think the return on investment is good ... their loss ... those who do put ranks in it, I make sure they feel like they're getting their ranks' worth. I also will note what their Knowledge + is ... for instance if someone with Knowledge Religion 15 asks a question about what they know about zombies, I wouldn't make them roll ... I would say they know everything, since the DC is lower than 15, due to priestly training or what have you. For instance we just finished with Haunting of Harrowstone ... I have 3 of my players with Knowledge Engineering. Weird right? Course that particular skill actually comes up a few times in that module. They had enough ranks that a roll of 10 would succeed on the DC ... so I just told them, without them making a roll, and explained that due to their background as a dwarf, or training or whatever they recognize blah blah blah.
I would guess a mixture of flavour and balance, but honestly its a discussion for the player and DM to have. I DM mainly and if a wizard asked me if they could have their robes be their bonded item (it helps if there is a background reason for it ... like the robes have a history or personal attachment to the character), I'd have no problem with that. As for armor ... again as a DM it would depend on the story element ... if the PC had as part of their background that they were/are a member of a "knightly" order of wizards who are armor wearers, I'd probably approve it. Talk to your GM, come up with a good character background reason for it and see what they say.
Just wondering, as the DM of a group that's having a reasonable amount of trouble with the name selections in this AP, how can you tell the gender of the name? I can't identify any sort of ethnic background which matches this naming scheme well enough to consistently borrow new names from, and have been hacking out whole syllables from minor NPC's names just so I'm not the only one at the table who can pronounce them. So, any help with background for the names Ice Titan? I think with Ustalav, going with any names with a Slavic root is a safe route. Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian names in particular (as Russian would be more Brevoy). Soividia could easily be a man's name. For some reason we have an assumption as English speakers that names ending in -a are feminine. While it may follow some language formats, it not always the case. For instance I had a good friend in Italy who was a man named Andrea. -a doesn't always follow that its feminine.
They're all my old and close friends, we're all in our 30s, for the most part, so its a nice mature group. *looks at Kazare who plays Kazzar whose name I obviously got wrong* Well mature is a relative term. *goes to chase Kazare out of the thread full of spoilers with a baseball bat* Heh. :)
Hi Helaman! Thanx for the response. I don't foresee an accident. The Arwaith PC isn't of that mode where she'd off Kendra for money. She has her own inheritance from her parents (Sarnax and Arani). The book, I'm assuming you're referring to what Adivion received from Lorrimor is not the Carrion Crown recipe itself. Its just a piece of the puzzle for Adivion that won't come into play for some time. Basically it gives me a prop that I can either play with or not, depending on need later. I am lucky in my players. When we ran our big 3.5 campaign back a few years ago (we journaled it out back then on the Wizards forum as the Calcryx Campaign, it went from lvl 1-28 and covered City of the Spider Queen and lots of other stuff), it was a big success. And mainly because of the players. They eat up story elements like Popeye eating spinach and throw back amazing storylines of their own creations back at me. The more I give them, the better I get back. I'm purposely going to keep things fluid for this reason, but I like to flesh some things out because they're the type to delve into something that may seem small and I like to be prepared. Talk about a group that goes out of the box. Luckily they turn it into a tesseract of fun :) (god, I hope someone gets that physics joke).
I'm inserting aspects of people's character stories into the adventure path, as well as NPCs they had encountered in their one-on-one sessions. Certain things I'm weaving in.... Story Insertions: 1. Starting about 20 years ago, House Thrune has been hunting a bloodline of true Azlanti. I'm still developing their reasons for this. Arwaith's (aka Wraith) parents, Sarnax and Arani, were living in Osirion then. Sarnax had been an old adventuring friend of Prof. Lorrimor's and was from one of the few families in hiding of true Azlanti blood. He married Arani, from another one of those families and they had Arwaith 23 years prior to the events of the campaign. House Thrune had tracked down Sarnax and Arani who departed Osirion on the run and were travelling from Larrad in Five Kings Mountains to Tar-Kazmukh where they were to meet Lorrimor, Father Grimburrow and Scrivener. Lorrimor had promised Sarnax who was also a member of the EOPE a safe house in Ustalav. Sadly they were waylaid by an agents of House Thrune. This is before the founding of the Queen's Hand (from the Rival Guide). Lerwynn Skathos though was at the time an agent and was present as well as an Imp named Rizzit (a private agent for the crown). They killed Sarnax and Arani and kidnapped the baby Arwaith but were themselves waylaid by Khorik Deephammer and his dwarven patrol. The baby was saved and placed into hiding with Scrivener in the Shackles amongst tengu pirates. The Queen's Hand, now founded, eventually tracked her down and discovered her at the same time as Lorrimor. She was saved and went into hiding in Magnimar with Lorrimor's help. The Queen's Hand continues to search for her and will probably make a few showings during the course of events in the AP, probably during Books 4 and 5. I'll work out what House Thrune's real purposes are by then. 2. The Whispering Way has many agents and two of them (also in the Rival Guide) are Adgrif Yoderbie and Mierela Tsilda. They have had a run in with Prof. Lorrimor before and Sir Victor was present then. Also Kazzar has had a run in with Adgrif. I will probably bring them back into the story if there seems to be any weak points in connecting the dots later on. A run in with one or both of them can help redirect the party towards tracking the Whispering Way if needed. 3. Father Grimburrow. I can't get enough of this guy. I plan on having him depart Ravengro the day after the funeral. He's very old now and he suspects his best friend, Lorrimor, has been murdered. He's a singular minded person who prefers to do things alone and so doesn't inform the party of his suspicions. However I can use him to help leave hints behind as the party moves through the story to keep them on track. He's just a few steps ahead of them at any given moment and always closer to getting Vrood. During the one-on-ones, the players have really come to like Grimburrow. During the Vrood fight at the end of the third book, he will give his life to save them during the battle ... or something to that effect. In any case, his death will be tragic but meaningful (something similar to Gandalf's death in LotR). 4. House Nicolov. The PC Sir Victor's family is the Nicolov family, who are nomadic Varisians who travel throughout Ustalav and Lastwall. He has not seen then since he was a boy and joined the church of Iomedae. What he doesn't know is that House Nicolov is destined to produce the Prince of Wolves. They a branch of the royal family of Ustalav who after the destruction of the kingdom by the Whispering Tyrant never returned to their noble roots, but instead became a nomadic clan. As the story progresses hints and clues will be left that may one day reveal Sir Victor to be that heir, but that will probably be material used for post Book 6 in continuing the adventure. 5. Kendra. As per the will, Arwaith has been made Kendra's adopted sister. Also Iamjosh intends on wooing her. At the end of Book 1, Kendra will tell the PCs that she is leaving to Caliphas where she will stay with Adivion until she sets up a home there. When Book 5 rolls around, I'll use her possibly to help guide them in what they're supposed to do with the vampires, or possibly something tragic ... haven't worked that out yet. But with her strong ties to the PCs, stronger than presented in Book 1, I will definitely use her more. 6. Scrivener's Prophecy. I mentioned this somewhere in a previous post I think about Scrivener the oracle's prophecy. He'll me traipsing just out of reach of the PCs along with Father Grimburrow, on his own mission, and occassionally interacting with the PCs where its appropriate. Just some of the ideas I have. I'm sure they'll develop and change as I go and as I respond to what the PCs do :) Again, any input is happily accepted!!!
Here is the change I'm making to Lorrimor's will. Information in <>'s is a description, if any, of the item. Stuff in bold is new text added. See the Players section above for info on the particular people mentioned. Lorrimor's Will: “I, Petros Lorrimor, being of sound mind, do hereby commit to this parchment my last will and testament. Let it be known that, with the exception of the specific details below, I leave my home and personal belongings entire to my daughter Kendra. Use them or sell them as you see fit, my child. "To my colleague, Professor Iamjosh, this small token of affection. It was given to me in my youth by Father Grimburrow as a sign of friendship. I now leave it to you with the same intention. Bear it well. <black-gold ring with two scythes framing a rough piece of obsidian. Ring of Counterspells.> "For my old friend, Father Deephammer, I have a special gift that I retrieved five years ago when on an excursion in Katapesh. I give it to you to return to your people or for yourself as you see fit. <Crown of the High Priest of Torag of Tar-Urkatha near Katapesh, no magical properties.> "To my assistant, Master Kazzar, I have left instructions with Dean Viacarri to offer you my rooms, my library and my academic seat at the University. Well loved by the students, and learned as well, I am sure you will succeed me well in your new role. "To Lord Adrissant, my old pupil and friend, I leave you that which you have always asked of me. I regret if you felt I kept it from you out of spite, for that was not my cause. Use it well, in my memory. <A grey, leather bound book wrapped in silver cord, obviously of great age. There is information in the book which Adivion needs for his Carrion Crown ritual. He's been trying to get this book for a long time.> "For Sir Victor, I had meant to pass this on to you when you next travelled through Ravengro. I had extended some inquiries into the matter of your family, trying to track them down as you mentioned. While your immediate family, which I understand is nomadic, was not found, a friend of mine at Quatrefaux Archives in Caliphas did send me a very special item, which he discovered in their collection. I am afraid I know not what it means perse or where it came from, but it is a start. <black leather scabbard with silver frame and wolf's head and the Nicolov name written on it. At the moment, no magical properties.> "Wraith. You have lost more than you know, but I have been eased these last few years knowing finally that you are safe. After speaking with Kendra and acquiring the proper legal documents from Mayor Hearthmount, I give to you that which was taken from you. A name and family. From this moment forth, according to the laws of the Immortal Principality of Ustalav, you may claim the name of Lorrimor and are recognized as Kendra's adopted sister and heir. “Yet beyond the bequeathing of my personal effects, this document must serve other needs. I have arranged for the reading of this document to be delayed until all principals can be in attendance, for I have more than mere inheritance to apportion. I have two final favors to ask. “To my old friends, I hate to impose upon you all, but there are few others who are capable of appreciating the true significance of what it is I have to ask. As some of you know, I have devoted many of my studies to all manner of evil, that I might know the enemy and inform those better positioned to stand against it. For knowledge of one’s enemy is the surest path to victory over its plans. “And so, over the course of my lifetime, I have seen fit to acquire a significant collection of valuable but dangerous tomes, any one of which in the wrong circumstances could have led to an awkward legal situation. While the majority of these tomes remain safe under lock and key at the Lepidstadt University, I fear that a few I have borrowed remain in a trunk in my Ravengro home. While invaluable for my work in life, in death, I would prefer not to burden my daughter with the darker side of my profession, or worse still, the danger of possessing these tomes herself. As such, I am entrusting my chest of tomes to you, posthumously. I ask that you please deliver the collection to my colleagues at the University of Lepidstadt, who will put them to good use for the betterment of the cause. “Yet before you leave for Lepidstadt, there is the matter of another favor—please delay your journey one month and spend that period of time here in Ravengro to ensure that my daughter is safe and sound. She has no one to count on now that I am gone, and if you would aid her in setting things in order for whatever she desires over the course of this month, you would have my eternal gratitude. From my savings, I have also willed to each of you a sum of one hundred platinum coins. For safekeeping, I have left these funds with Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Lepidstadt—she has been instructed to issue this payment upon the safe delivery of the borrowed tomes no sooner than one month after the date of the reading of this will. “I, Petros Lorrimor, hereby sign this will in Ravengro on this first day of Calistril, in the year 4712.”
Next some fleshing out of some of the NPCs NPCs: Prof. Lorrimor & Company: The most important group is Lorrimor obviously and also his old adventuring group. When he was much younger, about forty years prior to the campaign, he travelled all over the place with a group of friends. This included Father Grimburrow from the AP. It also included Scrivener, a tengu oracle who was blind and liked to collect baubles and ribbon (which he keeps in an ever increasingly heavy and overstuffed handy haversack on his back); Marjori Red, a tall Amazon of a woman from Alkenstar with a love of guns and who had a crush on Lorrimor before he got married. Judge Embreth Daramid (from Trial of the Beast), who had not been married at this point and went by her maiden name ... Grimburrow, the priest's younger sister. This was before her barrister days as well. He eventually married, was initiated into the EOPE and settled down in Lepidstadt. Father Grimburrow: Long-time friend of Lorrimors and almost 30 years his senior. Grimburrow is usually described by his friends as "Well he's nice ... well ... not nice perse." He lives up to his name and always suffers being torn away from his quiet parish in Ravengro to go on one of Lorrimor's fool adventures. As they aged, he travelled less and less, following his younger sister's model (as she married and became a magistrate in Lepidstadt). I plan on giving him an interesting take in the AP. As soon as I saw his picture in the book I thought, "This guy needs to have a story." And so he'll have on. The day after the funeral he will go off, leaving a message to the party giving his apologies. He is really off to track down to the Whispering Way and the murderers of his friend. The party will always be sort of on his heels from then on out until he'll have a tragic demise at the hands of Auren Vrood. I can't wait to play that one out. Adivion Adrissant: Once a student of Lorrimor's, he eventually became an academic rival. He had wooed and been betrothed to Kendra at one point before Lorrimor put a stop to it. The two respect each other, even like each other, but Lorrimor finds Adivion's particular fascinations troubling. Adivion will be present at the funeral and reading of the will and as there are 5 PCs, he will also be the sixth pallbearer. He will leave the next day back to Caliphas. Kvalca Sain: Sain will also be at the funeral, but really only be briefly mentioned and his true identity not revealed then. I just wanted to make a connection there for the PCs so that when Sain is dead, its just another part of the Lorrimor tragedy. Scrivener: My own creation, the tengu oracle I mentioned above. Scrivener, just because I love the character, is going to have some role to play in all of this. At the time of Lorrimor's death, he lives near Mordant Spire in a tengu colony. He will be overcome with a prophetic vision, incorporating not only the events of the Carrion Crown but also some aspects of some of the player's storylines. Most importantly he will see a great evil possibly for the young girl he helped raise (the PC Arwait from previous post). He will travel to Ustalav in a search for the group, so while they'll be on the heels of the Whispering Way, he will be on their heels. Lacramoria: This is the Varisian harrower who is possessed in Book 6. She is important for a few reasons. First, she is the grandmother of the PC Victor from the first post. Also it was her travelling clan that befriended the PC Kazzar. Also she is the only one who knows the true secret of her family, the Nicolovs ... the family from whom the Prince of Wolves will arise. Whee. That's it so far... other NPCs will be more fleshed out as well ... such as Judge Daramid being Grimburrow's sister and such. We'll see how it all goes :)
Hi! I begin running CC this weekend with a wonderful, intelligent, role-play intensive group of players who I have been running with for over ten years. I plan on setting up a campaign journal (which once set up I'll post a link to here or something ... thinking of using Obsidian Portal, not sure yet) but thought I'd just post some of the things I intend on doing to flesh things out a bit. I apologize for the long post and will put sections into Spoilers ... for space and because ... well spoilers :) I'd be happy to hear any feedback. Thank you! Players: Rather than have my players choose a campaign trait from the Players Guide, I did one-on-one sessions with them, about 2-3 hours each, where they got to RP out an encounter with Prof. Lorrimor. Details on these are below: 1. Arwaith (goes by Wraith): A true Azlanti gunslinger. Her parents (Sarnax and Arani) were from two hidden Azlanti bloodlines. Sarnax was once an old adventuring friend of Lorrimor's and a member of the EOPE. They were murdered by agents of House Thrune while travelling in Five Kings Mountains, but their baby, Arwaith, was saved (see Khorik below). Lorrimor, Father Grimburrow and Scrivener (a tengu Oracle with the blind curse and waves mystery) both of whom had also been adventuring friends with Lorrimor were also present when the baby was saved. Baby Arwaith was given to Scrivener to hide her from House Thrune. She was thus raised in the Shackles on a tengu priate ship (Scrivener was also a crew member). She knew nothing of her heritage or history. Then when she was about 20, Lorrimor and his daughter Kendra came aboard as passengers looking for their friend, Grimburrow, who had journeyed to the Shackles to look for Arwaith (who now went by Wraith and was the first mate on the ship). After a confrontation with the Queen's Hand of House Thrune, her past was revealed to her and Lorrimor gave Wraith her parents' inheritance and helped to set her up in Magnimar with a new identity. She has a close friendship with Kendra. She received essentially Rich Parents as her campaign trait. 2. Khorik Deephammer: Dwarven cleric of Torag. A little over twenty years prior to the events of the campaign Khorik was assigned to a patrol on a dwarven road in Five Kings Mountains when he came across the ruined carriage and dead bodies of Sarnax and Arani (see above). He chased the murderers (agents of House Thrune) down some dwarven tunnels with his fellow dwarves and saved the baby daughter of the two. Grimburrow, Lorrimor and Scrivener arrived soon after (worried when Sarnax and Arani had not shown up to where they were supposed to meet). Khorik blessed the child who was given to Scrivener to place into hiding amongst the Tengu. He was given Defender as a campaign trait (When adjacent to an ally with less AC than him, Khorik provides them with +1 AC. If its Wraith (above) than that is increased to +2 as he feels extra protective of her. 3. Iamjos: Varisian Universalist wizard. Caught up in the riots in Korvosa at the death of the King (from the events of CotCC AP), Iamjos was knocked unconcious during the ordeal and awoke in a jail cell. In the cell across the hall were Prof. Lorrimor and Adivion Adrissant (Lorrimor's one time student and now academic rival ... think Indiana Jones and the french guy). The two were arguing about something when a memeber of the Queen's Hand showed up to interrogate Lorrimor about the whereabouts of Arwaith (see above), now residing in Magnimar. The interview did not go well and the priest of Asmodeus left. Iamjos helped free Lorrimor and Adivion and during their escape encountered the priest of Asmodeus again doing battle with Father Grimburrow (who had come to free the professor). Afterwards, Lorrimor invited Iamjos to Lepidstadt to get away from the anarchy in Korvosa where for the last year he has been a professor of ancient languages, and trying to woo Kendra.(due to his use of charm and diplomacy to get out of jail he recieed Silver Tongue as a campaign trait. Granting him +1 to diplomacy checks and +2 to his enchantment DCs) 4. Kazzar: Silver-scaled Kobold summoner. Kazzar was exiled from his tribe at an early age due to his strange coloring, which was seen as an ill omen. He lived in the wilds of the mountains in the west of Ustalav for a few years, sometimes befriending travelling Varisian nomads. During one such stay with the Varisians, he heard fighting in the night and getting up from camp discovered down the road Prof. Lorrimor fighting off an attack from Adgrif Yoderbie (agent of the Whispering Way from the Rival Guide). Lorrimor had been trying to track down Adgrif (hard with the guy's invisilibilty) for a year or so now after first encountering him in Virlych (see Victor's story below). Kazzar helped to scare off Adgrif (mainly using his eidolon which looks like a silver dragon) and brought Lorrimor to the Varisian camp (this is the same group of Varisians by the way that are later encountered in Book 6 of the AP). Lorrimor, fascinated by a silver scaled kobold summoner, invited Kazzar to Lepidstadt to basically study him. Over the next three years Kazzar has become his research assistant (and is now rather erudite with tweed suits and a monocle). Due to the exposure to higher education he received Learned as a campaign trait (+1 to Knowledge <Arcana, Religion, History and Planes> and two of those are class skills for him). 5. Sir Victor Nicolov: Ustalavic Aasimar Paladin of Iomedae. Victor was born amongst nomadic Varisians in Ustalav (incidently the same Kazzar would befriend years later) who, while travelling in Lastwall exposed him to the crusaders there. His mother, a Harrower (the same who becomes possessed in book 6), knowing he was special left him with the church when he was about 10. Raised in the church, he soon became a young knight (hoping perhaps one day to become a Knight of Ozem), although he had no idea he was an aasimar. During his first assignment on patrol in Virlych with two companions, he arrived at a wayside camp for the Knights of Ozem. There a wounded Father Grimburrow asked for their aid. He and his friend, Lorrimor, had been investigating a nearby graveyard from before the time of the Whispering Tyrant. They had tracked who they believed were graverobbers there. Being injured, claiming to have been attacked by some foul power there, he asked them to go save Lorrimor. Victor and his companions travelled to the fog-shrouded graveyard where they were attacked by a haunt, which sent strangling chains out of the deep fog (killing one of Victor's friends). Eventually defeating the haunt, they heard a noise from a crypt. Victor went on alone to investigate and found within Lorrimor, tied up, and two others (Adgrif from above and Mierela Tsilda also from the Rival Guide). They intended on killing Lorrimor for meddling in what they were trying to do (they were trying to discover if they could capture the graveyard's haunt in a test run for Harrowstone). They fled when Victor arrived but not before Mierela summoned four skeletons to attack Victor. Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, Father Grimburrow arrived in the crypt ... angry at himself for being too old to save his friend, he had followed and just in the knick of time. He destroyed the skeletons and they saved Lorrimor. They discovered what looked like a large haunt siphon in the center of the graveyard and when Victor went to destroy it, it released a darkness. Light spread from Victor's hands (his aasimar Light ability revealing itself for the first time) and he was spared death from the foul magic. He escorted both back to Ravengro and has kept in touch since. His campaign trait is Death Guard, due to his survival of the evil haunt siphon which gives him a +1 vs death effects and negative energy attacks. So those are the players and their relations with Prof. Lorrimor, not to mention Father Grimburrow and Scrivener and for Iamjos also Adivion (who I played as once having been betrothed to Kendra before Lorrimor disapproved). Each has now received word of Prof. Lorrimor's death and are travelling to Ravengro. That was much longer than I thought. I'll post other parts of where I'm expanding on it in another post.
I imagine the 15 point buy is the chief concern here, not the loot. Again as they said above, if he is increasing the CR of the encounters, than he should be increasing the loot. But if he is running the encounters as is, there's no reason to increase the loot. As I quoted from the core rulebook before. If the loot of a creature is tied to its CR, as it says, than it stands to reason that the WPL table is designed around the 4 person group, as the CRs are. Again I'd welcome a developer to give some input here as to the thought behind their numbers on the WPL. You say you mostly struggle with the boss encounters. Well that's a good thing actually. And the boss encounters in CC are designed very hard, but I'm pretty sure all of them are also designed around a weakness of the boss (Splatter Man's spellbook, using the Beast in Trial of the Beast, etc.) They are designed to be a very hard challenge. Are you taking advantage (figuring out) those weaknesses and exploiting them? Is the DM giving you hints as to the those weaknesses? As for the adventure path itself, so far in my calculations, the loot that drops is perfectly correct for the level of the players involved in its design.
Addendum: After seeing this from the Core Rulebook.... "To aid in placing treasure, the amount of treasure and magic items the PCs receive for their adventures is tied to the Challenge Rating of the encounters they face—the higher an encounter’s CR, the more treasure it can award." pg 400 ....I think one can conclude that WPL is based upon a four person group.
Hi Melissa! Thanx for that input. I suppose a few points I'd make. 1. While there are no rules written about cohort wealth, the xp info on them is that they don't get an even share of XP. So as a DM I wouldn't calculate them into the division of loot either. Any loot you give the cohort is honestly just part of the loot of the person with the Leadership feat. In other words if you have a party of 5 +1 cohort and are averaging out WPL, you're dividing by 5, not 6. At least that is how I would read it. They are not a PC. 2. As you do have more than 4 anyway though, yes you're going to have less. But frankly, from a DMs perspective this is fine. The WPL does assume a four person party as well. 3. Consumables. Just adding up scrolls and potions, not wands, there's 5,949 gp worth just in the first two modules. And that's based upon half-price for selling, not their cost. So if you're at 10th level and you've only used 500 gp a person worth of consumables (just potions and scrolls) than something is wrong. There are LOTS of consumables in the first module alone. 4. The free spells you get for levelling up as a wizard would not be included in WPL. 5. In the end, just basing on WPL there's not really a problem (once you recalculate to exclude the cohort from your math). Again that WPL number assumes you're in a four person party for division of loot, by adding a fifth, the loot will divide thinner, but you have a 5th person in there to help out in combat so it balances. Conclusion: If you're having a serious problem with the challenges in the modules, that is a wholly seperate concern than loot and should be discussed with the DM. But your DM saying, "Loot-wise things are on course" is actually a pretty correct statement. He's not really wrong there. I'm glad this discussion is up though. As I said, I start CC this Saturday with a party of 5. And they are concerned about whether the loot will be okay. Now I tend to be one who customizes loot to make certain special things appear for people, so it won't be a concern. But ultimately this is the problem with using WPL as a hard and fast number, especially as a player, to see if you're good to go on loot. There are too many factors involved (especially when you change the size of a party from 4 to something more, cause that honestly changes that whole table). PS: If the WPL is not based on a four person party, I'd very much like to hear from James or other developer about that. From what I can see looking at calculations, it does assume four people.
Melissa, I have a question. You're 10th level and you did the math. Does that include ALL of the consumables from lvls 1-10? Potions, scrolls and the like? If you're basing your calculations on gold (from looting and selling and payment) as your current equipment, its not going to calculate right if you don't include all the consumables you've gone through as well. That is part of WPL.
Finished calculations for Trial of the Beast. Spoiler: Again it assumes just picking up what's in Treasure listings or magical or masterwork gear on enemies. It also includes payment from Lorrimor's will as well as payment at the end of the Trial from the Judge. It also assumes you do NOT pillage the Count's castle. I mainly did that because I know with my party I doubt they'll considering thieving everything in his castle. So it just includes magical items and those things that don't seem to be personal affects of the house (the painting, walking cane, books, etc).
At the end of Trial of the Beast the party will accrue 79,749 gp (19,937 per character) for a total for both modules of 104,935 gp. That comes to 26,233 gp per player by the end of Trial of the Beast and 7th level. Which means they should be about 3000 gp ahead of the WPL.
Despite my calculations above, I would like to say that as WPL is a guidelines it should not be a hard and fast rule, and players who are checking it constantly to make sure their up to par with it are doing themselves a disservice. If you're having a hard time with challenges, that is a wholly seperate matter than WPL and won't necessarily be fixed by being on par with WPL.
As I'm going to be starting CC this weekend I thought I'd better work out if there is less treasure. I've just gone through all of HoH, adding up the treasure (this does not include the platinum received upon reaching Lepidstadt as payment for staying there a month). This is literally just stuff listed in the Treasure sections. All magic items and masterwork items were set to half price (for sell) rather than their price value. I got a total of 25,186 gp. Divided by four that's 6,296 gp per character, which is almost 300 gp over what is listed for a lvl 4 person (what you should be at the end of the adventure). This assumes you're selling stuff for half price, which most everything in there will probably be used. So at least for HoH, I don't see a problem. I'll work on the other modules as I have time.
If all you want is a fey race pick a Gnome. They come from the 1st world. It's a core race so no issue there. Or if you want something darker ... the Mite is also a playable fey based race. Or a sorcerer with the fey bloodline.
The rules only allow spells from scrolls, and other familiars unless there is some archetype where I missed it, but the regular witch cant do it. This is how I read it too. Only scrolls or other witch familiars. Not wizard spell books. Now the reverse is also true. A wizard can't get spells from a witch's familiar. The only problem with this to watch out for as a DM is that generally a wizard in a party has good opportunities to find spellbooks of opponents through the course of a campaign. A witch, not so much. If you have a Witch in the party I'd talk to your DM about this concern. As a DM I would make sure I included a friendly witch here or there in the campaign that your witch PC can trade spells with to make up for it. Or something along those lines. Or drop more scrolls .. you can even give them some flavor/character suggesting they were created by a witch or for a coven or something. In any case, I'd try and include this interesting feature (familiar to familiar spell trading) into the campaign somehow.
A couple of ideas, TCG: 1. What about using the Denizens of Leng. You already have some sort of conflict going on between the Leng Spiders (who remember are highly intelligent) and the Denizens themselves. What if their war spills over into the prime material plane somehow, where large staging grounds for their conflict displace populations and whole cities for the sake of their war? Perhaps finding some solution to this would require your high level PCs to travel to Leng, or some other plane to find a way to seal the planar connection between the prime material and Leng, or send the spiders and denizens back? 2. Also if you're using Golarion (or not, as its all easily transferrable) you do have the other planets in the Golarion system, many of them populated. What would happen if the ways and portals between these worlds were suddenly opened up full bore ... causing havoc not only on Golarion but the others worlds as well. Maybe the inhabitants of the Dark Tapestry have finally "drifted" into the star system and are starting an all out assault on all the planets, forcing them to suddenly work together. The planets are ripe with possibilities ... Eox the Dead is totally inhabited by the Undead ... what if they started a planetary invasion ... or the Dark Tapestry situation above the PCs would have to help form an alliance with them? Aucturn the Stranger could be used as the staging ground for the Dark Tapestry's invasion of the other planets. Look at page 209 of the Inner Sea World Guide. I think there is lots of potential material there, not to mention the Distant Worlds book. Anywho, just some ideas for ya.
We start next Saturday ... We have: - LG Aasimar Paladin of Iomedae (probably going Warrior of Light archetype)
The Wizard became evil after his wife was murdered, but now he's going to woo Kendra Lorrimor which could very well redeem him ... if not than the 3 Good characters in the party :)
There is a MUSH/MUX out there that uses Pathfinder, although not set in Golarion. If you're into text-based RP. But I know they run adventures and stuff. http://tenebraemush.net/index.php/Main_Page If anyone not familiar with MUSH/MUX needs advice on what client to use, etc I'm happy to help.
1. I would never allow one to use this against a Haunt at all. Its a haunt, it is preprogrammed. 2. Its a mind-affecting effect. Seems pretty clear to me. Won't work on Undead. 3. As for living targets, you can only use it once against an opponent and the only ones where it is cheesy (spell casters etc) generally have high Will saves. And what about other NPCs. If you are fighting lets say a spell caster and his three melee friends ... play them smart. Would his 3 melee friends LET his spell caster buddy get up into melee? Have the spellcaster roll Acrobatics to tumble through his friends' threatened square ... if he fails, one of his friends is able to grapple him and prevent him from stupid-rushing the paladin? 4. Abilities like this I generally place into the ... let it be useful in dramatic situations where the player with such a feat will get a great deal of satisfaction from its use. But play the NPCs smart, and find ways to prevent them from doing stupid things. How many times have you, as a DM, used a charm or other similar ability against the PCs and his fellow PCs played smart and prevented the other one from doing something stupid? NPCs are no different.
I wanna know about that vacation. :) Cheliax is one of the greatest creations I've seen in a campaign setting. After reading it in the setting book, I knew I'd be hooked. And now we start our first Golarion based campaign in a week! Yay! EDIT: I was going to say an Adventure Path set in Cheliax would be great ... then I rememberd Council of Thieves. *slapface* Yay 3 am.
...Aka St. Thomas^^ Yep ... I was more referring to GK Chesterton who wrote his biography, but yeah ... St. Thomas ... the Dumb Ox :) Anywho ... back on topic ... I think both of the archetypes work for what they're trying to do ... I see yours more as a fantasy style Priest, so the focus on the magic use should be big ... while I see mine as more the monastic or mendicant Friar Tuck or Sister Mary Agnes type :) What do you think?
The first one you said^^ Nope ... pretty much just the English ... bit of Irish and Swedish thrown in for good measure. If I gained weight and grew my beard just right I'd look ... EXACTLY ... like my avatar :) I was happy to find one that actually looked like the author of the book The Dumb Ox :)
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