Eduardo Godinez's page

Whoa! There are some mind-boggling things here that have me go "What was he thinking!"

I hven't played much, but in the game I'm currently at, we're playing City of the Spider Queen. Rules-wise it's not been so bad, even though we're using 3.0 rules when I'd preferred 3.5, except that the GM has a pretty marked "Players vs GM" attittude, and tends to spring houserules mid-session. IE, during the climatic encounter at Szith Morcane,my cleric took out a vampire with a Undeath to Death spell (1 out of 6 undead present, the rest made their saves :/)afterwards, he argued that since the spell "destroyed" the vampire, it also destroyed its gear... we managed to argue him out of it, but it's still annoying/worrisome. Also, whenever we wanted to climb down the web, we had to spend a Polymorph other spell on the druid's animal companion (a dire tiger), he said we couldn't just give it a potion of spider climb because it would get stuck to the webs. Fortunately I took Church Inquisitor and was able to dispel the polymorph afterwards...

Taking advantage that animate thread has already been cast... here http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187046 someone is reading through MM2 and recalculating all the CR's, including 3.5 updates. If anyone's still interested, I reccommend you check it out (though the update speed is slow, about 1-2 mosnters/week).

IMC, I'm thinking of adopting the PF version of bardic knowledge (Use all knowledge skills untrained, add 1/2 level to roll). Thoughts?

Agreed in most of that, but I'd swap things a bit differently (This is assuming we're talking about the Flannaess circa 59iCY/LGG):

Linnorm Kings > Thrillorian Peninsula Barbarians
Mammoth Lords > perhaps Rovers of the Barrens? I'll have to check, not very familiar with Northern Flannaess...
Cheliax > North Kingdom (deviltry is bad for business, so no-no in Ahlissa, at least not so overt)
Absalom > Greyhawk - No brainer
Galt > Sea Princes? The state of anarchy might fit somewhat...
Sargava > Sasserine/Cauldron methinks
River Kingdoms > Bandit Kingdoms (though I believe Creighton Broadhurst set his Kingmaker campaign in the Bone March)
Andoran > Yeomanry, agreed
Katapesh & Qadira > Baklunish successor states, some with a more "Turkish" feel than Persian IMO
Kyonin > Celene, including haughty isolasionist elves... (bit of a threadjack, but don't they realize that if the Ulek states fall, they'll be next?)
Numeria > Blackmoor/Land of Black Ice fit the glove, especially if you include the Clockwork Fortress from Dungeon...
Lastwall > Shield Lands

Other cultures would fit well on Western Oerik, at least if you're going with the Dragon Annual Map (one of the reasons I eagerly await the supplements for those areas)
Osirion > Erypt
Tian Xia > Celestial Imperium et al
Belkzen > Orcreich/Darak Urtag
Vudra > Zahind

These are just the ones off the top of my head...

What about DC's Aquaman vs. Marvel's Prince Namor/Submariner? I don't know alot about either superhero, but from what little I've read/seen, I'd say Namor wins, but just barely.

Both are really strong, but not sure which is stronger.

Both are equally at home on land or in water, though Aquaman's ability to telepathically control sea creatures could be a big advantage in the sea.

Namor can fly, which I don't think I've ever seen Aquaman do, so that's an obvious advantage.

Both are skilled combatants, but I think Namor is surlier/prouder/more aggressive.

Aquaman wins, hand down: http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lanprdtox21qesfhho1_500.jpg

KaeYoss wrote:

Dark_Mistress wrote:

I think we can all agree a few of their adventures pushed things enough that some people thought they went to far. Hook Mountain Massacres for example.

I'd still love to get my hands on the original version of HMM! The one they had to reject as too horrible. Considering the stuff that goes on in the published version, I'd just like to read what goes on in the "director's cut."

Too bad Logue won't share.

Actually he did on the SA website, I was able to add it to my recent running of HMM before the site went away. If I find the stuff anywhere else I'll try and remember to let you know where to find it.

This is relevant to my interests. Tried digging the site up via the Web Archive, but the fraggin' thing is down. Any chance anyone could upload and share?

Well, maybe for the Pathfinder "official canon," but for many gamers who, just like the Paizo staff, have been playing in Oerth for decades and in Golorian for only a couple years -- but UNLIKE the Paizo staff, can still do tons of gaming with Greyhawk, Iggwilv will be justifiably HOMEBREWED as GH first and then Golarion.

I for one would automatically and without argument dictate that Iggwilv was born on Oerth and maybe, maybe, left for Irrisen and Baba Yaga's mothering, only to return to Oerth (after, say, 100 years in Irrisen) and become the Witch Queen of Perrenland, Zagig's "apprentice," etc., etc. But maybe Iggwilv never left. Maybe, probably, Baba Yaga came to Oerth to "adopt" Iggwilv.

...I think that's what exactly what he meant, Oerth (or wherever her native world would be, I think I remember reading that she was born on Earth, then adopted by Baba Yaga, but then again, that matters little due to the Hut's plane-hopping ability) > Golarion(Irrisen) > Oerth (Perrenland)

It would work quite well this way, she could have gotten her first experiences in rulership and power in Irrisen, because by the time she joined the company of Seven, she was pretty powerful already, but hid her true power from Zagig to become his apprentice. And by the time she took over Perrenland, she was powerful enough to bind a Demon Prince to her service.

Another option is this -

Iggwilv is the daughter of Jaran Krimeah, of the Ring of Five.

I don't think this'll work; It's been established that Iggwilv is far older than Krimeah; ie she plundered the Vault of Daoud by late third century CY, and became Zagig's apprentice in early 4th Century CY; in contrast, Jaran Krimeah was born in 406 CY, well after Iggwilv's earliest recorded activities.

But beware the jub-jub bird. *nods*

-TG

- and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!

I'm sure this has been said already in this thread; but the "base classes" ought to be Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and SORCERER, not Wizard.

Your looking for pick-up-and-play concepts... Sorcerer has that, the Wizard is needlessly more complex for an introductory audience.

Some conceptual ideas to consider for each class:

Fighter:

Turn Feats into "Abilities". Give them things like Improved Trip/Sunder or whatever; but just call them "Trip/Sunder". Make the Feat a requirement to even do the maneuver. Don't bother with "abstraction" style feats like "Weapon Focus" or other such feats which involve mechanical manipulation. Players don't want to see +1 here and -1 there as an "ability" on an introductory level.

Cleric

Spells should be simplified into obvious effects. Avoid blatant "Buff" spells where possible. Again; less +1/-1 more "this does something".

Avoid "gamey terms" like "Channel Positive Energy". I'd say this is a criticism of the base game, but were all used to it. New players don't "Speak the Lingo". You might say it's time for them to learn in an introductory sense; but I disagree with that. It's a textual "barrier of entry".

Rogue

The Rogue can do stuff other characters can't. Again; follow the theme of "If you have this ability; you can do this, if you don't, you can't" in a similar theme to the fighter. The Rogue CAN stealth. The Rogue CAN find and disarm traps. Simplify the presentation of Sneak Attack signifigantly.

Sorcerer

Not much to say here. Sorcerers do magic stuff. Make it cool. That's all.

Just some suggestions. Would like to see this idea flourish.

-Idle

+1 to this

I'm planning on running this adventure using 3.5 rules, and my ggogle-fu produced a partial conversion by crazy_monkey @ WotC's forums: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75894/19967462/Crazy_Monkeys_Sa ndbox
The conversion looks pretty good, however it only covers until area 18. Apparently it was continued in another thread, but the links are dead now. Does anyone know if the conversion was completed, and if it did, did someone manage to save it and could please share it? Thanks.

Considering that, from Living Greyhawk, the timeline (starting in CY 591 in 2001) was advanced by 1 campaign year for each real time year, the SCAP should start in CY 593, since it was first published in 2003 (Dungeon 97)

Hi delvesdeep! Thanks for taking the time to answer!

G'day Eduardo. My biggest issues with the latter portion of the campaign were the same as your own but the extent of the problems I felt were greater than one adventure.

I didn't mean to say that the problems were confined to only one adventure, but that with a little reworking and shifting around the order of the adventures, a seemingly pointless dungeon crawl (SoS) could be made workable/more maningful (I think that an assault to the antagoists' stronghold is quite more interesting than a simple mop-up operation)

Orbius/Vhalantru was the best villian of the campaign yet was not even one of the Paths ultimate villians: the Cagewrights?

Agreed. It always seemed odd to me, considering Vhalantru was the catalyst of much of what happened in the early campaign. Of course, that's something I intend to remedy IMC ;)

These villians are just another encounter to the party because there are too many major villain and too many faceless villians imho.
In terms of replacing the xp/items from Shatterhorn I have included a new adventure located in the Haubted Village where the party face off against Aluzid and Embril (the only two Cagewright Masters I thought were worth saving and I could easily faoreshadow earlier in the campaign). I tried to design this adventure as a stepping stone to the latter adventures to give the campaign more flow.

I'm currently revising the original CW, taking a page from your CW rewrite, I'm trying to see which ones are most likely/easier to have their roles expanded/foreshadowed in the campaign; those that don't make the cut will be written off and replaced by more meaningful villians.

Currently:
Dyr'ryd: The leader, so no changes here.
Shebeleth: IMO one of the critical CW, I plan on making him one of the prime movers of the CW plans. As explained in a previous post, he should be one of the few, along with Fetor, aware of the CW true objective: the freeing of Adimarchus. I might also foreshadow him using the "fake priest" plot thread.
Thearynn: I wanted to keep him, since the CW need a planar expert for their schemes, but I think I'll end up giving that role to Fetor.
Freija: Probably going to get axed.
Gau Kleeoch: Dumb muscle, I'll probably keep her as a military commander.
Nulin: I liked your idea of the LL Guildmaster very much. Probably make Velior Thazo his minion/stand-in, along with Jil as possibly his apprentice.
Ardeth Webb: Sadly can't really find a use for her. Likely to get replaced.
Alurad Sorizan: Enforcer, I like your use of him along with Khyron, so I'll probably steal it XD, except I see him more riding a nightmare instead of a nightwing.
Embril: Another critical one IMO. I'll probably relocate her to the volcano hideout, and ignore the Magic Jar hook.
Ssythat Nahazir: Sorry for the snake man, he'll probably get sacked.
Xokek: I feel some potential for him, since he is the CW spymaster, I'll see if I can set him up keeping tabs on the pc's, possibly even supervising or heading some of the assassination attempts.
Viirdran & Kyan: Don't see much use for them. Sad, since I kind of like Viirdran's character concept.

Potential CW's: Grehlia Cairnis, Vhalantru, Fetor Abradius, Thirifane, Zarn Kyass, Khyron Bonesworn, Jil.

For the endgame, I plan on mixing up the order to make it more maningful, something like this:
Lords of Oblivion>Shatterhorn>Foundation of Flame>Thirteen Cages
The pc's learn the identity of their enemies in Soul Pillars or LoO, assault their HQ in Shatterhorn, but only take a few of them caught unawares, when they are leaving Shatterhorn The Volcano starts erupting, signaling the start of the planar junction ritual, the PC's rush back to help evacuate Cauldron, and finally need to strike the Volcano hideout and stop the ritual, exterminating the CW in the process.

The importance of including Nidrama came from trying to ensure that Adimarchus became more than a faceless ultimate villian. As written, the party really have little reason to despise Adimarchus or even care about him. Unless the Cagewrights or other earlier villians are linked to Adimarchus then why care if he lives, dies, is saved or condemned?

Honestly, my real beef with Nidrama/Adimarchus is that I really like Athux/Adimarchus XD, that's why I'm loathe to throw Nidrama into the mix, though I understand your reasons for doing so. I don't plan on having Adimarchus' redemption as an option, so I don't find it necessary in my case. The reason for his fall might as well have been Pride and/or Wrath (haven't elaborated in it yet), but he is throughtly corrupted, and his insanity helps little.

This is why I like the Paizo forums: the possiblity to bounce ideas back and forth, refining them in the process. Thanks for your time, DD!

Hey delvesdeep, would you mind sharing? darklord_27@hotmail.com

I've been rereading the hardcover, since I might run it soon, and I've come to realize that a lot of the problems in the late campaign (other than the failure to establish the Cagewrights as meaningful antagonists) come from the pacing and placement of the adventures. As it stands, SoS is little more than a mop up operation, since the CW plans are foiled in 13 cages, and most of their leadership (especially critical ones like Shebeleth and Dyr'ryd) killed. Conceivably, if left to their own devices, the CW would likely break up and disperse, or at least withdraw from the Caudlron region to pursue their agendas elsewhere. Than, and the weak link from SoS to Asylum, are IMO the worst failings of the campaign as written.

I'm thinking SoS should come before FoF and 13 cages. It could possibly go like this: the PC's learn of the existence of the Cagewrights and their plans in LoO (or even as early as SoSP from Fetor), they might gain the location of the CW base of operations (Shatterhorn) in House Rhiavadhi or Valanthru, afterwards they assault the Cagewright HQ hoping to put an end to them and their plans, once and for all. They might catch some of the CW by surprise and take them out (possibly the least important ones, ie the ones in SoS, except possibly Alurad and Embril), but unknown to the PC's, the greater part of the CW have already gone to their other hideout to begin the Planar Junction. By the time the Pc's get out of Shatterhorn, the Ritual is under way and Cauldron is up in flames. The PC's rush back to CAudlron, cue FoF, followed by 13 cages, where it becomes a race against the clock to stop the CW before Cauldron is destroyed and worse, Adimarchus is freed.

The former works much better in my opinion, though the adventures might require substantial tweaking in order to take into account the lower (or higher) party levels. Linking into asylum might still be a problem, but it might be easier to work out other than relying in a PC failing their save agaist Embril's magic.

I thought so too. I was a bit dissappointed when I received the Hardcover because it didn't address this issue adequately, ad it was one of the main reasons for me to buy it (also the extra adventure ;)).

@delvesdeep: I like some of your ideas, especially the revamping of the Cagewrights, tough I'm unsure of taking out Strike on Shatterhorn. I'm also not into throwing Nidrama into the mix, other than having her as the somewhat detached protector of the Caludron region. I'd like to know though, using your revamped/replaced Cagewrights, how do you intend to replace the xp/items from Shatterhorn, since most of the Cagewrights featured there would be replaced/taken out?

What I've been thinking about the Cagewrights, is to make them the (somewhat) unwitting pawns of Adimarchus, them being afflicted by his madness into freeing him, perhaps unknowingly by most. I was thinking into making Shebeleth an exception to this: since he is stated as worshipping Adimarchus, perhaps he is the only one, or one of the few, aware of the Cagewright's true goal (something not even Dyr'ryd realizes). He won't be the backstabbing or "own agenda" sort of villian, since his and Dyr'ryd's goal is essentially the same (the opening of a permanent portal to Carceri),but only Shebeleth knows that doing so would free Adimarchus.

True, Oerth doesn't really have an ideal location for that sort of origin (which, frankly, is terribly derivative of what the Yuan-Ti already do, breeding kinda-man/kinda-snakes to oversee their purely human slaves).

Plus, I'm a huge fan of the pseudo-Aztec/Mayan stuff the Olman have going on, so hooking the Rakasta into some sort of older jaguar knight / were-jaguar species, is way cool (and more setting-appropriate).

I'm thinking of replacing Oerth's catfolk/rakasta automatic languages (Common and Feline, according to RotW) with Olman. I don't think they would have developed a separate language, especially if the kept at least semi-regular contact with Olman tribes/cities. What do you think?

It's probably a gimme, but having Rakasta be related to Rakshasa, in the same way that Tieflings are related to Fiends, or Shifters are related to Lycanthropes, could be another route to take. Perhaps they were bred as intermediary flunkies, overseeing the pureblood humans, in lands where Rakshasa rule openly (somewhere off the map), but some have escaped that life (or been sired more 'by accident' in the course of Rakshasa shapeshifting shenanigans with the mortal folk), or that culture fell ages ago, and the Rakasta now exist in the ruins of the kingdoms their progenitors once ruled.

While an interesting idea, that would place them too much into "India" territoty (since IMC that's how I envision Rakshasas). For some reason I really like the idea of giving the rakasta ties to the Olman and their pantheon.

I think this is because the real world mesoamerican gods do have quite dark tones, AFAICT. I think you refer to the articles in Dragon here, right? There were four parts on the Aztec mythos, in #352/354/356/358. According to the Dragondex, there was one article on monsters in #317.

Stefan

While I'm not an expert in Aztec mythos, I do know that Aztec religion was heavy in dualism, and several gods had dualistic concepts, ie both "good" and "evil" aspect, it's just that it's usually the "dark" aspects that tend to be dwelled upon. I liked the cass acts articles (those four plus parts 5 and 6 posted here in the forums) because it mentioned some more obscure myths that aren't usually as well known, like the creation of the Fifh Sun.

The old Fiend Folio cat-race called the Tabaxi seem like a logical choice to throw into the Olman or Amedio jungles. (I like the idea of the jaguar knight / Tezcatlipoca association.)

I just checked The Scarlet Brotherhood. Tabaxi are mentioned in passing as inhabiting some of Hepmonaland's jungles...

Spoiler my PBP:

** spoiler omitted **

And I reread Tides of Dread. They went with the Jaguar knight/lycanthropic origin too ;) It's also mentioned that some rakasta might have left the island and settled elsewhere, and that pockets of survivors might still be found in the IoD. That said...

I think I'll be going with the lycanthropic origin. Some rakasta would have left the isle and settles in the Amedio and Hepmonaland. The Amedio rakasta quite possibly established contact with the Olman of Xamaclan. I'm thinking of a possible schism among the rakasta, with some more "civilized", or less savage, rakasta, turning to the worship of Quetzalcoatl or the less savage Olman gods (I'm basing this mainly in that the IoD rakasta are mentioned as having allied with Couatls, which are associated with Quetzalcoatl), while rakasta which have backslided into savagery turning to the worship Tezcatlipoca and allying themselves with the werejaguars of Hucanuea. I think I'll distinguish the latter as tabaxi.

In this case, while I was planning in introducing them until the Savage Tide AP, I might introduc them during the Shackled City AP, perhaps some rakasta are trading with Cauldron abd Sasserine, and some even might have settled in or near the cities.

In a side but related note, I think I'll be ditching the "canon" Olman pantheon and insted I'll use the version presented in class acts. I'll say I wasn't too thrilled in finding out that all but one of the Olman gods were overwhelmingly evil. David Schwartz's take on them struck me as a more balanced pantheon.

Eduardo Godinez wrote:

Just checked, it IS listed. Look in the deitie's stat block, after their class & level listing, it lists their Divine Rank.

Except it doesn't have it for all deities. Non human deities, other pantheons, etc do not get stated. The list I am looking for had them all listed out.

Mmm, well, the main nonhuman deities are stated in deities & demigods. Other than that, sorry, I don't know.

theeaterofshades wrote:

Eduardo Godinez wrote:

You're probably thinking of 3e's Faiths and Pantheons, it had the stats of all of the Realms deities, along with their divine ranks, kind of a FR's Deities and Demigods.

Nope that and the 2nd ed books only have the rank categories Greater, Intermediate, lesser, Demi...

What I am looking for was a list which gave them a Numerical value. For examplet Silvanus was a 19 and Chauntea was an 18.

So there was a range of numbers for Greater, Intermediate, and so forth and each diety was assigned a power level based on that.

I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure Faiths and Pantheons lists the individual Divine Rank for each god (the divine rank is anumber between 0 and 20, and represents the relative power level of the deity in question.

Just checked, it IS listed. Look in the deitie's stat block, after their class & level listing, it lists their Divine Rank.

Eduardo Godinez wrote:

You're probably thinking of 3e's Faiths and Pantheons, it had the stats of all of the Realms deities, along with their divine ranks, kind of a FR's Deities and Demigods.

Nope that and the 2nd ed books only have the rank categories Greater, Intermediate, lesser, Demi...

What I am looking for was a list which gave them a Numerical value. For examplet Silvanus was a 19 and Chauntea was an 18.

So there was a range of numbers for Greater, Intermediate, and so forth and each diety was assigned a power level based on that.

I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure Faiths and Pantheons lists the individual Divine Rank for each god (the divine rank is anumber between 0 and 20, and represents the relative power level of the deity in question.

Spoiler my PBP:

** spoiler omitted **

For extra awesome, make them proficient in chainsaw katanachucks ;)

Joking aside, my idea is to justify their presence in the Flanaess, while avoiding them becoming as prevalent as the other races, keeping them uncommon at most, that's why them living in the depths of the jungle sounds good to me. I'm still not sure to keep the lycanthropic origins idea, but I'd like to keep them worshipping the Olman gods.

Hey everyone. A long time ago (either 2nd or 3.x) I came across a listing of the Realms gods that had numerical values assigned to their power levels to show a hierarchy. I cannot remember for the life of me where this was and it would be very helpful in a project I have brewing. I am wondering if any of you know where this may have been located or have a link/copy of said list.

Thanks for your help!

-Matt

You're probably thinking of 3e's Faiths and Pantheons, it had the stats of all of the Realms deities, along with their divine ranks, kind of a FR's Deities and Demigods.

Well Greyhawk has the Catlord, back in the original MMII. So some "cat themes" are probably all right. That said, depending just which cats these cat people should emulate talls you where you could place them: Jaguar people probably in Amedio or Hepmonaland, "siberian" tiger people in the north (the Tiger Nomads come to mind), lion people could be in the arabian northwest, "indian" tigers perhaps with the Scarlet brotherhood and thereabouts.

Stefan

I got an idea of a post I read here a while ago by Heathansson (sp?) where he theorized IoD's rakasta could have originated out of Olman Jaguar knights partially affected by the Savage Tide energies. I was thinking that perhaps a band/tribe made it to the continent, ehre they established, perhaps reestablishing raport with surviving Olman enclaves in the Amedio, slowly but steadily spreaing outwards to the North and West, perhaps only recently beginning to show up further north as the explorers from the Flanaess began adventuring in the Amedio, perhaps travelling with them to the Sheldomar area and further north as explorers, or beign captured as slaves/attractions by less scrupulous ones. Of course, the Scarlet Brotherhood would probably have captured some specimens, as slaves and experimental subjects.

Just searching for horned society and scrolling a bit gave me this text on the HS. The search tool is indispensable.

Stefan

Beaten to the punch. Yup, that's pretty much what I was talking about. There's a search tool for canonfire, and you could also use google's advanced search. I found that writeup a pretty good one, since it also ties the Night of the Blood Moon festival, the hierarch's death, and Anthraxus' banishment (YMMV on that one though).

Eduardo, where does it say Markosian is a Hierarch? Brunner's adventure is pretty clear on establishing his "non-official" role with the Horned Society.

p. 32, Appendix, mentions he became a Hierarch sponsored by the Unnamable Hierarch himself. It does not mention a "non-official" status, merely that he hasn't been fully inducted into the Society's schemes until he proves himself worthy. And it does make sense for the current MO of the HS to keep the cells and leaders separate, that way a crackdown would be harder to execute.

If I recall Rakasta first were published in Castle Amber and Isle of Dread -- but a number of old mods from '80 - '82 had them and I think David Howery even included him in his "Leopardmen"/ "Land of Men with Tails" adventures.

I would have no problem putting Rakasta all over Oerth in the places where you think they can help your Campaign. They've been there all along, just haven't shown up in the campaign.

What always troubled me was the Litorian (Monte Cook). I mean, heck, I like the Litorian but you don't need two cat-people -- unless you make a distinct racial difference between the two there's no point in having them at all.

I must say I'm not very familiar about rakasta, since I've believe they're mostly Mystara material and I've been focusing my "archeology" studies mostly in GH & Planescape. Either way I'd think GH "rakasta" should have their own culture, since the catfolk as presented in RotW are pretty much just crunch no fluff. I've kind of come to like the idea of them worshipping the less evil Olman gods (Quetzalcoatl mainly, can't remember ATM others), thought I'd like to know if someone else has included them in their campaign and how they did it.

Where did the Litorians show up? Are they next to some other cat-people? AFAIK Greyhawk is lacking any cat-people, so I don't think there will be too much of a problem introducing them to spice things up a bit.

Name any Mage of Power other than Slerotin.

Wasn't the Archmage Lendore (of Lendore Isles fame) a Mage of Power too?

Regarding the Hold of the Sea Princes and its original native name -- would something as simple as Hool Peoples/Tribe work for northern natives and either Hokar or Kamph Peoples/Tribes?

"Lands of the Hool Clans"
"Tribes of the Hokar Peoples"

I don't think they ever named their lands, since land/state naming is usually something only more organized states do, and AFAIK the advanced Flan kingdoms were established to the North/Northeast.

If you were to use them in Golarion, I'd say that Zon-Kuthon would make a perfect deity for them, or if not that, have them worship a demigod pantheon of kytons.

That's what instanly jumped to mind when I read the thread title. And since I plan to make Golarion a part of the greater multiverse IMC, the Golarion goods could be worshipped in other worlds, though not too spread out since it's a relatively new Prime World ;). Perhaps the shadar-kai were ensnared in a similar way the inhabitants of Nidal found themselves as The Midnight Lord's worshippers/pawns (or the other way around)?

But in Pathfinder's version they're not Devils so I don't have too much to worry over. I think it's easy for a Homebrew designer to say that means they're not Baatezu. A perfect distinction for my purposes.

The Kyton came from Planescape material (Planes of Law I think), so they're not new to 3.x. Also they've never been baatezu, just a separate race of baatorians who get lumped with them for convenience's sake, so no houseruling/homebrewing necessary ;)

I do remember some post/article/discussion (can't remember too well ATM) by Erik Mona about the Hierarchs of the HS. Discussed potential former members (ie the hierarchs killed by Iuz) and survivors. Also I remember it was Erik's idea of making Erac's Cousin the Unnamable Hierarch. Aside from the Rabid Dawn and Warduke articles, I don't remember much new material in the late Dragons. You should not overlook Markosian though, he IS a Hierarch and 17th level, and his insidious MO could be interesting in the Pale. I also remember a more recent article/writeup regarding the HS that linked previous canon with some material from the BoVD (ie making the Dread Emperor (wizard 10/diabolist 10) the First Hierarch, who went insane and exiled himself to the Ethereal plane until the Unnamable Hierarch beat the insanity out of him and brought him back to the folds of the Society). There's also the fact that the UH returned from the dead due to a pact with Baalzebul and is now apparently a Greater Baatezu (possibly a cornugon). I'm pulling all this from memory, and a lot is fan material, I think soem of it is from canonfire and/or Oerth Journal. I do remember finding it all, or most of it, in Google searches.
As for the Cheliax comparison, it struck me more as a reference/inspiration for the late Great Kingdom/Northern Aerdy, beign a LE decadent empire in decline, though Hextor was/is the state religion, devil worship was tolerated if not encouraged (I recall some cult to Baalzephon), and Hextorians have good rapport with infernal denizens. i planned on taking some cues from there when/if I get to develop the pre-wars GK.

To all Greyhawk sages out there:

I'd like to introduce the catfolk from Races of the Wild in my Greyhawk campaign, and I'm trying to find them a place in the world. The idea is to integrate them into the world setting, in a place just off the "common" world, as to make them available yet rare. Since the Savage Tide campaign set a precedent with the rakasta of the Island of Dread, I was planning in starting from there. Even though they are extinct in the IoD, I was thinking of perhaps placing some surviving tribes in the depths of the Amedio Jungle, perhaps living alongside the remnants of Olman civilization there, and worshipping the Olman/Aztec pantheon. Thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Holaaaa... Alguien?

Great! I'm really interested in this, since I have a conversion of this in the works for 3.5, but been struggling with the lack of info in the original modules (the threadbare days of AD&D 1e :S). I had been planning on incorporating soem stuff from the Troika game, but have only cleared the moathouse so far. I'm looking forward to see how you handle the end of the module.

Also, would you mind sharing your conversion notes? I'm especially interested in seeing how you handled the npc's and the waves of critters (I mean, 13+ dire rats? 20+gnolls/bugbears/etc? Damn!)

Howdid any of you managed to "solve" the dungeon? i.e. desired outcome, how to communicate that to the players. Currently my desired outcome would be for them to get hold of the Orb of Golden Death, the elemental Gems, and destroy them. I think I'll also leave the possibility open for them to fight an aspect of Zuggtmoy. But right now my players don't have a clue what to do and I'm struggling to find a way to convey it to them ,without being too forward. Any ideas?

Eduardo Godinez wrote:

Somewhat related, do remember that Zuggtmoy is Iuz's lover. Can you imagine what do the family reunions look like? :p

Where is this at? Isnt Zuggtmoy close allies with Demogorgon AKA Iuz's Dad's nemesis?

If I'm not mistaken ,it was mentioned back in Zuggtmoy's Demonomicon article. I'm sure it was mentioned in other places (not sure if it was in ToEE)but can't remember right now.

I remember Zuggtmoy in ToEE but didn't remember that "she/it" has a "thing" with The Old One.

I'll say this, though -- if they do ever have a family reunion, I waanna be the photographer.

I can imagine Iggwilv throwing a fit because her son's "girlfriend" is leaving mold all over her furniture XD

First of all, thanks for all your help!
I have realized too the difference in leveling between 1e and 3.5. Apparently PC's en 1e were expected to fight waves of enemies (ie a certain fight in Descent with about 20 wererats and 2 mind flayers)vs 3e more "elite" encounters (less enemies but significantly harder).

The group suffered greatly in the sense of treasure. Much of what they acquired were given in exchange for life saving spells, primarily teleport. I found it pretty unbelieveable that after this incredibly long module that the treasures we wrought were very little. Special treasures were handed out much later in the adventure as a result of the epic quest the characters had taken on.

Noticed that too, my Pc's are way behind the wealth-by-level table. I am planning to compensate for lack of treasure if the PC's rescue Prince Thrommel, likely their rewards will help put them in an adequate amount of wealth. If not I'll increase the treasure for the last higher level encounters in the Temple.

The campaign culminated in Falrinth setting them up for a fall, sitting on the throne with the crown and calling for an Aspect of Zuggtomy to come up.

Falrinth used chain lightning when the party arrived and that got their attention then he died to an awful pair of saves off a phantasmal killer. The party took on the Aspect. One died but the rest won out. It was an epic end.

I was thinking of making Zuggtmoy in the Temple an Aspect (otherwise my party would die when facing a CR 25 Zuggtmoy :S) in case theay are brave/foolish enough to release her. How though did you make her aspect?

What I would recommend is drastically cut down on the XP you give the PCs for killing things, perhaps even just leveling them up when you find it appropriate for the challenges. Alternatively, if you want to give them XPs regularly, figure out how long you want them at their current level and give them a portion of the amount they need to level up after each session.

If you're wedded to getting through ToEE, try to end up with them at 10th level and skip the Slaver series. Go right to the Giants. If you want to run Slavers too, cut down ToEE. Move some of the encounters from the 4th level up to an edited 3rd level (the high priest and such), ditch the silly looking 4th level, and ditch the elemental nodes.

I already planned on cutting XP rewards, by lowering the CR's of npc's by 1 (a 5th level fighter certainly is not a CR5, expecially when the party takes him out in 2 attacks); on paper it appears to work, so I'll start there; I also plan on reducing the number of enemies per encounter, using EL as a guideline.

And yes, the direction I intended to take my campaign was Temple>Slavers>Giants>Descent>Drow. I already planned some tie-ins/hooks in the Temple to guide them into Slavers (since the plot hooks in the Slavers modules semm troublesome for me). I plan to have the Temple in cooperation with the Slave Lords, selling them "extra
2 prisoners as slaves, with Lareth beign their contact in the Temple, keeping in communication with Edralve (Already foreshadowed the Drow/Lolth a bit, with Lareth having an obsidian spider medallion among his possessions; Edralve would essentially be his "supervisor").
I was thinking also i ncropping the lower Temple levels, I'm thinking of moving the important, named NPC's to the 3rd level, and putting the elemental gems in the hands of the elemental high priests (since those were the onl reasons to go to the elemental nodes).

I can't offer any help concerning the module/campaign, but I can help with the monk.

Step one: Throw away the vows of Nonviolence and Peace, those are huge hassles to the party as a whole and just make a mess of things.

Step two: Take away the prerequisite feat (some feat that doesn't do anything, I forget what it's called, it's a gateway feat to the vows) and let him have VoP for a single feat.

Step three: Let him choose additional feats that don't entirely rewrite how the game functions. Approve or deny them carefully. Depending on the level of optimization in the party I might suggest "Lion Tribe Warrior" which allows the person with it to use pounce with a single light weapon (unarmed strikes included) Another feat that might appeal to him is Intuitive Attack (weapon finesse with wisdom instead of dex)

That should clean things up with the monk. The anointed knight shouldn't be a problem, it's a cool class, but arguably a bit underpowered. Hope the Pally's making good use of Paladin wands, since I've heard ToEE is a hardcore module lol.

Thanks for your advice! Not sure if the player will go for it, but I'll have to check with him, I guess, I also don't want to outright ban his character since I allowed it in first place :S. Then again, he has only been on two sessions, which is why he still is 5th level, so so far he hasn't been too much of a hassle.

Also, don't worry about the paladin's well-being: so far he's been a mounstruos tank, It's almost scary how much damage he can deal, the player has been really lucky with dice so far.

Hello fellows who frequent the Paizo boards, I come to you in search of advice. Here's the lowdown:

It's my first time GMing D&D (and also pretty much my first time playing it, aside from a few campaigns which died after 2-3 sessions). I decided to go with a "Greyhawk Classics" campaign, planning to go all the way from ToEE through Slave Lords, Giants, and finally Drow.
We've started the game in Hommlet, and the party already tackled the Moathouse and are now at the Temple, and here's where I've been having trouble.
This is the current party:
LG male human paladin 5/anointed knight 3 - Party leader & Tank
N male human wizard 3/cleric of Boccob 3/mystic theurge 2 - Caster & Healer.
LN male dwarf fighter 6 - Secondary tank
LG male human monk 5 - Has Vows of Poverty, Nonviolence and Peace (Yes, only too late did I realize I may have shot myself in the foot allowing BoED)
and Furnok, the rogue from Hommlet that I'm controlling as an NPC (the party went back to get him after falling for one to many traps XD)

Now, right now my two main concerns are the exalted monk (though I plan to see him develop a bit, if it starts to become troublesome I'll try to kill him, right now I've banned further use of the BoED aside from those two chars) and the fact that the party has advanced way beyond what I have planned (they've only explored half of the first level and already at levels 7-8, I had been planning to them being at most lvl 10 when finishing the Temple). Right now I fear the rest of the Temple, especially the Elemental Nodes, will drag on too much and the party will end up on a way too high level. Currently I was thinking on cropping the Nodes, and perhaps the 4th level.
So, has anyone run ToEE for 3.5? Any feedback or pointers you could give? Help me Paizoans, you're my only hope!

and that planeswalkers wouldn't be any more powerfull than regular mages. Ok, maybe a litle more powerfull than regular mages but not by much.

Then what would be the point of playing a Planeswalker? Planeswalkers are as powerful as demigods, or at the very least, quasi-deities, according to MtG fluff.

[FLAME]It's a shame that canon ends with Dragon 359, the Last Dragon, and that any subsequent slop, however well done, is apocryphal -- shame, it seems like it would have been cool article. Ah well. They killed Dragon before that article could be made canon. [/FLAME]

INFIDEL! How dare you defy de Word of Jacobs! To the Pit with you! (j/k)

Somewhat related, do remember that Zuggtmoy is Iuz's lover. Can you imagine what do the family reunions look like? :p

Wow, actually I had no idea that The Crawling Chaos was linked to Graz'zt.

Can you find the source please, a Dragon article or something?

Found it! From Dragon 360, page 10:

A few ancient and ageless scholars believe that Pale Night was not, in fact, the aggressor in this matter, but that one of the Old Gods themselves, a cosmic entity of a thousand names and crawling chaos, visited Pale Night from his own court at the center of the universe, leaving her impregnated in an attempt to spawn a race of demons who would fulfill unknowable roles in his own dire plans for reality.

Beats the lame 4e canon ^_^

Wow, actually I had no idea that The Crawling Chaos was linked to Graz'zt.

Can you find the source please, a Dragon article or something?

There, I confirmed, after somequick googling, to be in the Demonomicon of Iggwilv article for Dragon 360 featuring Graz'zt (the last one written for 3.5). I haven't been able to double-check, sine I'm @ work atm and for some reason all the articles of the free-to read Dragon magazines that are not previes of 4e have disappeared. I do have the pdf for dragon 360 save in my home pc though, so I'll check once I get home. But we could ask the author to clarify, that beign Mr. Jacobs, of course! ;)

Baba Yaga actually sounds like it makes sense. In fact, I think I could House-Rule it even if any published text contradicts it, either as birth or adopted mother.

Nonetheless, I am hoping to find published text regarding Iggwilv's parents. Do you know where your memory may be coming from?

I've checked S4: "Tsojcanth" and there's nothing there. Also ToEE and Return to ToEE. I read through the Background info in Expedition to Castle Greyhawk by Mona & Jacobs and even took a peek at Dragon 359 where "all" the D&D mysteries were (LOL) "revealed." I browsed through my Dragon "Demonomicons of Iggwilv" and though I'm missing 1 or 2, I'm pretty sure none have Iggwilv's parentage.

That just about covers my resources except for the Boards here where just about all the other Grognards know more GH than I. I did, however, think of another source that I'll check tonight if I have time -- the Nic Logue adventure that WotC put out online for free after they killed the mags yet before they killed the game; it's an adventure about Drelzna -- maybe Iggwilv gets a couple paragraphs.

Oh, and since you mentioned Baba Yaga (THANKS!!) I'll go ahead and check Dragon 84? -- the one with Moore's adventure, "Baba Yaga," just in case. I don't have the 2E adventure: S5, "Baba Yaga" by Smedman to check there, unfortunately.

-----------------------------

If Baba Yaga IS Iggwilv's mother, that is awesome. Think about Iuz: Iggwilv and Baba Yaga on one side of the family tree, Graz'zt and Pale Night on the other. The only thing cooler would be if he were a vampire chick. Oh wait, Drelzna. . . .
Talk about sibling rivalry.

Don't forget Iuz's partenal granddad/Graz'zt's dad, Nyarlatothep ;) (At least I remember reading that somewhere, and who's to say we can't make it be? ;))

Eduardo Godinez wrote:

I was reading Pathfinders' SRD and noticed the changes to NPC's with class levels CR, and got thinking, how would it work in 3.5? What do you think? Has anyone tried lowering their Classed NPC's CR's?

Heck, yeah. I did that from day 1. In 3.5, a Wiz5, for example, is certainly not a CR5 encounter. It's much easier.

Yeah, I was thinking so too, since my party wiped out my carefully crafted first boss (5th level cleric) in record time :(

Hi all, I'm sorry if there was a thread alreadyd, but I did a search and found nothing, so here it goes:
I was reading Pathfinders' SRD and noticed the changes to NPC's with class levels CR, and got thinking, how would it work in 3.5? What do you think? Has anyone tried lowering their Classed NPC's CR's?

Hola! Yo soy de GDL! ;)

Hi there!

I'm fishing for Mexican players devoted to Paizo games and stuff. Are there anyone out there? I live in Guadalajara and would like to find other "Paizonians" to share experiences and games and maybe set up a gaming groups specifically for APs.

Also to see if there's a way to bring the Pathfinder society to Mex-Guadalajara.

Join up!