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With the possibility of characters earning prestige points by furthering their faction’s larger goals, it can be difficult to keep in mind what those goals are. This is an attempt to create a quick reference to consult during play.

I’ve pulled out the relevant paragraphs for each faction regarding their larger season 4 goals, then tried to distill those down to one sentence so I have something quick and easy to look at while at the table. Hopefully it will be of use to others as well.

Andoran – Promote Andoran and Magnimar, weaken Korvosa.
While adventuring in Varisia, be ever watchful for ways of improving our embassy, both in appearance and reputation, and give Magnimar’s movers and shakers a reason to listen when we offer them our hand in friendship. Keep Magnimar’s interests in mind, and as you strive to further the goals of the city, make sure all around you know that it was Andoran who came to its aid. And while I cannot openly suggest you do harm to the citizens or property of Korvosa, the weakening of that Chelish thrall-city would benefit Magnimar and the Andoran cause.

Cheliax – Improve Zarta Dralneen’s name and reputation, prevent further harm.
As you travel the world doing what it is you do for fun, be on the lookout for potential enemies who may use you to get to me, or worse, attempt to sabotage our collective efforts by disrupting your work. And should you find the opportunity to improve my reputation, clear my name of slander, or otherwise show House Thrune that I and those Pathfinder agents loyal to me are effective and valuable resources to the empire, by all means, exploit those opportunities for all they’re worth! I believe many chances to do so will present themselves as you and the Society shift your glance north to Varisia, where the city of Korvosa could use our help in establishing itself as the true center of power in the burgeoning nation.

Grand Lodge – Thwart the Aspis Consortium and the remnants of the Shadow Lodge insurrection.
The recent conflict with the Aspis Consortium within the Hao Jin Tapestry was unfortunate, but we will not have the luxury of waging open war with our rivals in the streets of Magnimar or even the wilds of Varisia. Despite the limitations presented by the real world, we will doubtless have plenty of opportunities to make things difficult for the Consortium, both in Magnimar and elsewhere in Varisia. Ensure you take every such opportunity!
Additionally, it was in Varisia—in the mysterious and ancient city of Kaer Maga—that the rogue Shadow Lodge agents who troubled us recently made their first move against our loyal agents. Likely, remnants of that cell still operate in Varisia and are either plotting our demise or sullying the Pathfinder name. We have largely come to terms with the Shadow Lodge, but those who still defy Grandmaster Torch could present a problem for us. Continue to rout out remnants of the Shadow Lodge insurrection and ensure they either fall in line with the rest of their kind or are eliminated as potential threats to the Society’s wellbeing.

Lantern Lodge – Weaken the Aspis Consortium, maintain our honor, promote our worth.
As you know, many Pathfinders lost their lives in the Hao Jin Tapestry, many to the ruthless agents of the Aspis Consortium. Whether logical or fair, there are many in power within the Pathfinder Society who put the weight of those deaths on the collective shoulders of the Lantern Lodge. We have dishonored the Society by allowing Aspis Consortium agents into the Ruby Phoenix’s realm, and we must right that wrong by further weakening the Consortium wherever we may face it, be it in Varisia, Goka, or Absalom. While the Society now controls the Consortium’s backdoor into the Hao Jin Tapestry, we must take it upon ourselves to ensure the route from Absalom through the tapestry to Varisia is safe for future Pathfinders. The Aspis Consortium must never again breach our defenses and sully the honor the tapestry should have brought to our faction.
Last year, as the Society’s gaze focused on us and on our homeland, we were honored by the attention, and relevant to the organization’s larger goals. But now, the gaze of the Ten has shifted elsewhere, and we must work doubly hard to ensure we maintain our honor and prove our worth, lest we be supplanted by others hoping to establish themselves in the Society’s good graces.

Osirion – Help to find a cure for the Ruby Prince.
The Lissalan idol that seems to have caused this curse was brought from Varisia to Sothis by a Pathfinder, a promising young agent who I had taken under my wing. It was I who urged her to impress the Ruby Prince with relics of an empire older and ultimately more feeble than Osirion itself. And since I was indirectly the cause of the Ruby Prince’s interaction with that damned idol, he rightfully blames me for his condition. If I am unable to find its source and, more importantly, a cure—and find them quickly—he has promised that my time serving the Osirian throne will be at an end.
Thus I need you, who are more able to explore the ruins of ancient Thassilon, to search for lore on Lissala and the magic she and her faith may have used to forge such a harrowing curse. I will work here in Absalom to piece together what clues I can from the works in Forae Logos and the Grand Lodge on a potential cure. I may, from time to time, ask you to retrieve reagents or ingredients that I can’t easily get while conducting my research; know that such requests are of dire importance, for the life of the Ruby Prince may well rest in all of our hands.

Qadira – Promote trade, find new resources, prevent the Aspis Consortium from getting resources.
Our primary and most transparent motivation in the coming months will be the establishment of formal trade relations with the cities of Varisia—especially Janderhoff, which to date deals almost exclusively with other dwarven communities and the nearby city of Korvosa. Work toward this goal openly among your allies who are not invested in this enterprise and you should draw suspicion away from our more lucrative plans. But while you venture into the wilds of Varisia, be ever watchful for new untapped resources to exploit and see to it that any competition for control of these resources are stopped—especially the Aspis Consortium, which has already taken from our grasp many resources from within the Hao Jin Tapestry.
And if during the coming year I or an associate of mine asks you to carry through the Hao Jin Tapestry a simple, nondescript bag (which may or may not hold within it more than it seems from its weight), think little of it, and know that your cut of the transaction will be paid in favors both material and intangible.

Shadow Lodge – Fight the Aspis Consortium – infiltrate it if you can.
Keep up appearances by making sure Pathfinders of all stripes see you fighting the obvious enemies of the Society, especially the Aspis Consortium or holdouts from when our own Shadow Lodge agents turned against the Society. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all, and the more Pathfinders who see us as friends and not enemies, the better.
Ever one to present two faces, I need you to use a bit of subtlety when dealing with the Aspis Consortium. I have a suspicion that the schism among our membership a few years ago was the work of someone who had much to gain by setting Pathfinders against Pathfinders in open conflict. Who better than the Aspis Consortium to benefit from our self-destruction? If you have the chance to infiltrate the Aspis Consortium and learn about their leadership, their structures, and their plans, all of this information can be of use to me. If it also benefits the Society, then so be it. But someone in the Consortium played all of us for fools, so now it’s personal.

Sczarni – Promote the family’s interests.
As you’re running errands for the Pathfinders, you can also deliver some messages to other members of our extended family who might need a reminder of who’s really in charge of things. Between the two of us, I think we can be the ones planning all the Karela family reunions in just a year’s time, no?
Make sure you’re always looking out for those who have your back, and if you need to rearrange your priorities a bit so the Pathfinder Society’s serving us instead of the other way around, I certainly wouldn’t stop you. Don’t get into any trouble that’d make you unable to do your main mission, however. Knowing your place is important.

Silver Crusade – Learn runelords’ weaknesses, spread the light.
You have a great opportunity in Varisia, for you can learn from the ruins of the runelords’ unholy empire what their weaknesses are, what fates they succumbed to in the past, and what we may use to combat them should they return again in the future.
Along your travels, spread the word of righteousness, vigilance, and sacrifice. For the time may very well come when untrained farmers and common merchants must take up arms to fight the forces of evil, be they the demons of the Worldwound, the orcs of Belkzen, or a risen runelord and her army of enslaved monsters. Prepare the people for the coming war, for when the tide of battle washes over them, it will be too late.

Taldor – Expand the empire in Varisia.
We can expand Taldor in a way that hasn’t been accomplished in millennia. The world is too populous now for armies to march forth into the wilderness and tame them. But in the Varisian frontier, the taming has already been done by both Magnimar and Korvosa, and like little mice on the edge of the jungle, they will crawl under our lion’s paw for protection. Taldor’s future and our return to glory will come in Varisia, and you can be the catalyst for this revival! Show the mighty and influential of Varisia Taldor’s puissance, and teach them that with us, they too can rule.

PFS does its best to be a fair system. It is clear that Mike Brock, Mark Moreland and others at Paizo work hard to create a game that is balanced, equitable, and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of play style, class choice, or racial preference.

And yet there is one aspect of the game that is neither fair or logical: If you choose to play your character on the slow progression track, you cannot earn 1/2 a prestige point if you only complete one of the two eligible missions. The Guide to Organized Play is ambiguous regarding this, but Mark made it clear in this post – here is the relevant quote:

“In the end, a PC on the slow progression earns half the PP he would have received had he used the normal progression rounded down. That means if he succeeds at 1 mission, he gets 0 PP; if he succeeds at both, he gets 1 PP.”

I would like to ask why this is the case, and to put forth the proposition that it should be changed.

This rule wrongly penalizes someone choosing the slow progression track for their character. If they have successfully completed the requirements for earning what would be a full PP on the normal track, then they should get credit for that. Someone on the slow track already earns only 1/2 an experience point, so why can they not earn 1/2 a PP?

It has been stated that a character is not necessarily supposed to complete every faction mission he or she gets, whereas it is much more likely that a party will successfully complete the scenario requirements. So those on the normal track can pretty much count on getting at least 1 PP out of each adventure. But if it’s statistically less likely that a character will always complete both prestige missions then someone on the slow track will always be operating with an unfair disadvantage.

This seems to be something that could be easily fixed (though I could be mistaken). Right now the policy acts as a deterrent to playing a character on the slow track. I hope it can be changed and that choosing the slow track can be made a more attractive option.

While I love all the artwork for this module, there is one piece I really wish had been included. That would be an illustration of what the Striding Fortress looks like from the outside. There is a brief description of it on page 26, and of course the maps themselves, but it’s such a quirky structure that it would be immensely helpful to have a picture of what it looks like as a whole.

So I’m wondering if there might be sketch laying around the Paizo offices that could be posted, or if anyone in the community has attempted to illustrate the fortress?

Knowing my players, they are going to want to thoroughly scout around the outside of the structure before going in. I’m sure they’ll want to look through the windows to see what’s inside – I’ve already decided the glass will be virtually unbreakable (good old glassteel, how I miss that spell). Having a picture to show them would help so much with their immersion.

There is some confused wording regarding this in the Guide to Organized Play. On pages 20-21 it says this:

“To maintain balance between characters on both advancement tracks, those PCs utilizing the slow advancement track may only earn 1 PP per scenario. This point is dependent on completing both the overall scenario objective and the character’s faction mission.”

This indicates that the character needs to complete both the main mission and their faction mission in order to earn 1 PP. If they only complete one of those missions then they earn 0 PP.

But then on page 29 there is this statement:

"A character on the slow advancement track can earn a maximum of 1 PP: 1/2 PP for completing her faction mission, and 1/2 PP for the scenario’s success condition."

This would seem to indicate that it is in fact possible to earn 1/2 a PP for completing one of the scenario objectives.

I did a board search and found this in a post last year from Mike Moreland:

“In the end, a PC on the slow progression earns half the PP he would have received had he used the normal progression rounded down. That means if he succeeds at 1 mission, he gets 0 PP; if he succeeds at both, he gets 1 PP.”

This unambiguous statement seems to settle the matter. But I’d like to ask why this is the case. Characters on the slow progression already earn 1/2 an experience point for completing the scenario, so why can’t they also earn 1/2 a PP? It seems an unfair penalty to impose on them, particularly since it’s been stated that you’re not necessarily supposed to complete every faction mission you get, whereas – barring a TPK or something extraordinary – you are supposed to complete every scenario.

So is there any reason this can’t be changed to make life in the slow lane more equitable?

Overall I like this scenario, but I have some issues with a few of the faction missions.

Cheliax PCs have two missions at the Captive Audience theater. The first is to retrieve the script of a play. In the player’s note that’s about all it says. But in the GM notes it says that the PC is supposed to take this script without the other PCs noticing.

My first issue here would be why does it matter if the other PCs notice? This isn’t exactly a sensitive political matter. The second issue is of course that the player is not told they should be taking this without the other PCs seeing them do it. Common sense would dictate the GM not penalize the player in this case, but I just thought I’d point it out.

The second Cheliax mission involves rescuing and convincing someone to join a different theater company. The GM notes say “snapping her out of her charmed state requires the use of dispel magic or other compulsion negating magic…”

This requirement would seem to preclude anyone from the lower tiers from being able to complete it. I know that one of the faction missions is supposed to be difficult, but in this case it appears to have been made nigh impossible. Is there other “compulsion negating magic” available to low-level characters that I’m not thinking of?

Taldor also has a mission at the theater, to retrieve some books on Taldor history. Once again the player is told merely to find this information, while the GM notes say it is supposed to be done without other PCs noticing. See above for my issues with this.

I understand why some faction missions should be kept secret for story reasons. I’m guessing that others are arbitrarily made that way to add difficulty to the task (which I don’t agree with, but that’s a topic for another thread). But in either case it should be made clear to the player that they need to be doing their task secretly. The other Taldor mission in this adventure clearly states that it should be done without the other PCs noticing.

I've checked RPGenius and I can't seem to find a map of the Riot Scene from Chapter 5, one with the notes removed so it can be blown-up for use with figures. Maybe I'm missing something, but I figured I'd post here and see if anyone can point me to one if it exists. Thanks in advance if you can!

We are just finishing up Zenith’s Trajectory, and I am curious to see how other groups made their way through Bhal-Hamatugn’s various obstacles. My PCs had a particular item that proved quite useful in a couple of different spots: a folding boat – so I’m wondering how others fared without it. (How they have a folding boat is whole other story).

Upon arriving, my group managed a peaceful transit with Aabhaca the ferryfrog, but did need to retreat out of the complex to heal after their encounter with Aushanna the erinyes. This was the first and most obvious instance where having a portable boat made life a lot easier. If they didn’t have it I think I may have allowed them to find Aabhaca’s boat tied up along the shoreline a short distance from the stairs, otherwise it would have been all but impossible to get across the water on their own. So how did others handle this?

Another difficult encounter is the fingerling pool. Swarms are annoying enough as it is, but putting them underwater makes them twice as annoying since it takes away the area of effect options of fire and many spells. My group once again made use of the folding boat here, this time to form a make-shift bridge from the dry part of the room over to the stairs leading up to Dhorlot’s chambers. They were so annoyed by the fingerlings that they decided to just skip the living quarters area down the hall past the portcullis. Funny how a bunch of diminutive offspring of Dhorlot would give them more trouble than the dragon father himself, whom they managed to pulverize in about four rounds. In any case they basically chose to not even try and kill the fingerlings, so I’m curious how other groups dealt with them if they did try and kill them.

In the Scenario “Our Lady of Silver,” one of the possible rewards is a +1 flaming composite longbow (+5 Str). The question came up in our session as to whether the +5 Strength component could be adjusted to allow someone with less strength to use the bow.

As it stands, I would think there are only a handful of characters running around Pathfinder with a 20 or better Strength, so as a treasure it would be virtually useless to the vast majority of players. And as it’s most likely to be of interest to a ranger with bow specialization, it’s even more unlikely that such a character will have the required Strength. Even if the full 8,900 gp cost had to be paid, it would be nice if the pull on the bow could be adjusted to allow use by those with less Strength.

Can we get some official clarification about this?

After reading other folk’s ideas about having a local Cauldron newspaper, I decided early on that I definitely wanted to have something like this – first as a way of giving the players some information about the city and what’s going on (none of them are locals in my campaign), and later as a fun way for them to see their own exploits earning them a reputation.

I kept it fairly simple, especially since I wanted to have a couple of issues already printed and available for them. Each issue is printed on one large page (11½” x 14” , or A3 paper), so that it can be posted on the many message boards throughout town. I also decided on a monthly publication, with special issues if something really important happens – again to cut down on having to come up with too many extraneous news bits. Also, I’m assuming my group will be taking time to recover from each adventure and interact with the city a bit, so they won’t get through more than a chapter or two before each issue is published – if they do then I may change the scheduling, or just print a special issue.

I figured I also needed to come up with a little something about who actually publishes the paper, since eventually the players would be getting interviewed about their own exploits for future issues. I also figured they might go to the paper’s office for their own reasons, which did in fact happen during their initial investigations of the missing orphans. So, here is what I came up with for the publisher of the Cauldron Herald:

Located in a small shop on Magma Avenue (2nd building to the right of #8 Maavu’s Warehouses on the big map).

Owner is in and out – 50% chance of either at any given time, goes up to 75% to be there the last few days of each month as he works to get the paper ready. Same chances for his apprentice to be there.

Barleycorn “Red” Trumpetfoot – male halfling expert 5, 3’5” 42# 39 yrs old;
Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 15;
Bluff +13, Diplomacy +10, Gather Info +13, Intimidate +10, Sense Motive +9.
Wavy, thick red hair except on top where it’s thinning, piercing gray-blue eyes. Always wears brown pants with red suspenders over a white cotton shirt, and a gray vest; can normally also be seen wearing an ink-stained grayish visor and is usually chomping an oversized cigar. Lives alone above the shop.

Bright, energetic, inquisitive, nosy; always moving around. Always looking for a story, but is actually fairly reserved with what he publishes, and is supportive of the lord mayor and ruling authorities. This is partially because he knows he can be shut down if he’s too critical, but it also gets him in to see those in charge. He’s friends with the mayor and likes him (the red hair is a common bond between them). He will become more critical of the government after Navalant disappears and things continue to deteriorate, and the paper will eventually be shut down. He may go underground after that and continue to publish from hiding.

Initial attitude to PCs is indifferent – interested in a possible story and nothing else. If the PCs start asking him questions, he says “You help me plough my field, and I’ll help you plough yours.” So if PCs come to him with tales of their exploits, grant him interviews and details, etc., he’ll pass on rumors and stories that he picks up. This could become one of the PCs best sources of info in the city if they cultivate it correctly.

(“Red” is obviously an over-the-top caricature who has stepped out of some 1940’s film, which is entirely intentional – I plan to have as much fun with him as possible).

Razjem Yhoyas (apprentice) – male gnome expert 1, 3’3” 38# 38 yrs old
(still young for a gnome);
Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 13;
Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Gather Info +8, Intimidate +5, Sense Motive +4.
Thin, smallish, with woody brown skin, light brown hair and dark blue eyes;
Dresses similarly to Red, except his suspenders are blue, wears a gray jacket instead of a vest, no visor or cigar. Sleeps on a cot in back of the shop.

Young and eager, he aspires to be just like his master, but obviously lacks his skills and charisma.

I planned on having the PCs room here when they first got to Cauldron, so I wrote up some details for their initial arrival. I lifted some of the menu details from another post on these boards from long ago (or possibly from something at RPGenuis) – I don’t have the name of the original poster, but my thanks to him/her, and apologies for not being able to credit the original author (since this was going to just be for my own use, I didn’t write down any names).

Another inspirational idea received from this forum was that of publishing a local newspaper. As the PCs approach the front door of the inn, they see a large wooden sign board under the overhanging roof eaves. Upon the board are several issues of the local newspaper, the Cauldron Herald, as well as various other notices. (I printed all this out and tacked it to a big piece of cardboard to simulate the sign board as closely as was practical, and pulled it out when the characters arrived at the inn). Most of what is printed in the newspaper is so heavily tailored to my own campaign that it wouldn’t do much good to share it, but one of the “older” issues has as its lead story the headline revealing the Stormblades recent clearing of a group of kobolds in some lava tubes (as mentioned in the HC), which was the PCs first introduction to their future nemeses (I’m happy to share that as well if anyone is interested).

Having spent some time looking over the signboard out front, the group finally enters the warm glow of the Drunken Morkoth. There is a large, lively common room, its great oaken beams stained from smoke, the dark flagstones on the floor polished smooth by years of traffic. They meet the innkeeper, a friendly human male with dwarfism who is only about four-and-a-half feet tall. He introduces himself as Rivek Mol, and seems ready and willing to make conversation. He doesn’t get too far however before he is interrupted by the shrill voice of a female dwarf from around the corner who tells him to stop boring the customers and get them their rooms. He yells back at her to mind her own business and a short, heated exchange takes place before dieing out as suddenly as it began. He explains that the dwarf is his co-proprietor, Nazwyg Stoneblood, though he refers to her as “Stoneheart.” They’ve been running the inn together for nearly twenty years. (See People below for more details).

Probably the most popular Inn in the city, the Drunken Morkoth is a regular stop for merchants, adventurers, visiting nobles and politicians. Offering comfortable beds, good food, and reasonable prices, the Morkoth is well known as far away as Sasserine.

Every room is decorated with a humorous painting of Cauldron's legendary lake monster, a large Morkoth. Each painting depicts the monster in a number of embarrassing situations and locations, and always very, very drunk. For example, in one of the PC’s rooms, a morkoth teeters on the top of the city wall, its eyes depicted as crazy spirals, a bottle of wine clutched between two of its feet. In another room is a morkoth wearing a jester’s hat and smoking a pipe, sitting on a bench, eyelids drooping, empty liquor bottles scattered all about.

People

Rivek Mol (co-proprietor) – expert 4, male human with dwarfism 4’6” 40-ish, dark hair going gray, short beard. Friendly to guests, willing to chat but usually doesn’t get to for long, and is usually being interrupted by Nazwyg. Knows more than he says, especially when he first meets PCs.

Nazwyg Stoneblood (co-proprietor) – expert 4, female dwarf, 4’2” tan skin, long gray hair. Personality is basically the same as Rivek, though nicer to females in general, a bit cold to male dwarves.

These two can’t speak without arguing. Always getting on each other and complaining about each other, but in truth they love each other. They have been together for 20+ years, though never got married due to racial differences and the controversy it might cause.

If made friendly, they will share some of the rumors in the HC (pp 14-15). Order: 9, 1, 19, 20, 21.

Meerthan Eliothlorn – aka Tyro Amberhelm (Page 370) – male dwarf 4’5” 160#, reddish-brown hair and beard, dresses in browns and blues, standard merchant-style clothes, likes to wear a blue ‘wizards-cap’ with a reddish-brown feather stuck in it.
Posing as a dwarven merchant, prefers to keep his business to himself. Someone else (inn keeper, etc.) may say they think he’s here to set up deals with some of the local dwarves: either he’s here to buy up local stone, or to hire dwarves, or he’s trying to sell tobacco and dwarven ale and/or the services of dwarves from elsewhere (any or all of these depending on who is spoken to).

Tramaine Garwood – cleric 2 (Corellean), male elf 5’2” 98#, long unkempt dark brown hair, yellow-green eyes; dressed in dirty, wrinkled clothes – cotton shirt and pants. Has a haunted, afraid look in his eyes.

Tramaine is the only surviving member of a group of adventurers who went into some lava tubes/caves and got beaten up by goblins a couple of weeks ago. He escaped but feels terribly guilty about it. He’s been drinking ever since. His group walked into a trap set up by the goblins and was surrounded all around and above, pummeled by javelins and spells and a swarm of rats. There was a tall, shadowy leader of some sort who appeared, struck, than disappeared in a puff of smoke. (This was Drakthar leading his goblins to the upper caves. Turning gaseous was seen as a puff of smoke to the terrified cleric). Tramaine was overcome by fear and fled, somehow escaping back to the city. He’s been drunk ever since. He’s totally broken and won’t ever adventure again.

Hangs around for another week or two, then just disappears one day. (Maybe a Shackleborn who is taken away?)

Luceea Brandon – expert 4/sorcerer 2; female half-elf 4’10” 95#, long blonde hair in double french braid, burgundy silk shirt, gray cotton pants, leather boots.
A merchant from (Sasserine or some other locale in your campaign), here to try and secure a source of finished stone to export. In talks with various nobles – Taskerhill of course is number one, Aslaxin, maybe Navalant. Won’t say anything other than she’s a merchant from ____, just paying a visit. If made friendly, she’ll admit to true reason, and also admit she wants to secure her source before anyone from (some other location) can.

Udoo Arktaros – expert 5, male halfling from Ekbir – Owner of Udoo the Silkmonger on Lava Avenue (From the “Umber Hulk Attack” map), living in a rented room here at the inn. Mysterious, strange look to him, dark piercing eyes, more defined features than local halflings, longer nose, and a thin beard; wears golden earrings, bright silk clothes, speaks with an accent.

Will happily talk with PCs (enjoying conversations on the philosophical nature of good and evil especially), but won’t ever tell them anything of note about himself. Others will say he came here 7 or 8 years ago and just set up shop. Seems to enjoy life, engages with other guests, enjoys his food and wine (but not to excess), but otherwise keeps to himself. If pressed on why he came, may offer that “the Lady of Fate saw fit to put me here” and no more.

Doesn’t know too many rumors, all the same as others above (or roll randomly), except add that he heard #2 from someone if made friendly.

Has some kind of a connection to get silks from the northwest, but no one knows what it is or how he does it (friends with a djinni).
- Will eventually leave the city – play it by ear.

Lodging –
Shared room: 5sp/night (bunks up to four people)
Private room: 2gp/night (includes access to the Inn's bathing facility)
Lord Mayor’s Suite: 7gp/night (includes meals and hot bathing water for private bath)

Bath: 1sp (access to a private bathing room and hot water)

Meals –
Fast Breaking: 1sp (hunk of cheese, bread, and a mug of ale)
Lunch: 2sp (usually a hearty stew and bread, mug of ale)
Evening Meal: 2sp (variety of dishes, busiest hour, does not include drink)

Beer, Ale, Mead –
Thunderbrew Ale (dwarven brew): 5cp/mug
Hollowsky Stout: 4cp/mug
Kord's Blessing: 4cp/mug
First Watch Lager (watery): 3cp/mug
Morkoth's Mead - 4 cp/mug
Warm Honey Mead - 4 cp/mug

Wine List –
Wine, White (local) – 4cp/goblet, 2sp/bottle
Wine, Red (local) – 4cp/goblet, 2sp/bottle
Soldier’s Friend (local, watery mix red) – 2cp/goblet, 1sp in a skin
Sheldomar Red – 5gp (bottle)
Assassin Berry - 7 gp (bottle)
Elven White - 18 gp (bottle)

Liquor –
Grog - 5 cp
Miner’s Eye (local rock-gut) – 2cp/shot
Hookface Fire-brandy – 5cp/shot
Dragontooth (imported whiskey) – 1sp/shot
Taskerhill Reserve (cognac) – 2sp/shot

The Inn's game of choice is the dice game Drop Dead . Usually one table going in the evenings for fun, 1sp buy-in to play, table seats 8 players.

Playing Drop Dead: The game is a simple one where the player rolling adds up the total of the five dice thrown (5d6), unless there’s a two or five, in which case the total is zero and those dice are removed from play. The player keeps rolling until she has no more dice left. The one with the highest total after everyone rolls wins the pot.

I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve done with the Lucky Monkey. Two are fairly generic, while the other is more specific to my own campaign.

1 – The first thing is fairly simple, and really doesn’t affect the story much – it’s more to do with world logic: I’ve never been comfortable with the fact that the Lucky Monkey is just sitting out in the middle of the wilderness without any protection whatsoever, miles from the nearest neighbors, even though there are dinosaurs and even the occasional demon running around. So I’ve put an 8-foot-high stone wall around the place, with a gate leading to a courtyard area between the stables and main building and another gate out back near the kitchen door, and stationed two 2nd level warrior guards to look over the place. This of course won’t matter a whit when Triel & Co. attack the place, but since I’m planning on having the PCs stop there on the way to Cauldron for the first time and meet the owner, I felt it was important just for some believability.

2 – Some folks have posted on these forums about what to do concerning the ownership of the Lucky Monkey after the murder of Orin Marsh the owner. I decided to head off such queries from the start. I gave Orin a family – a wife and two young kids. I actually did this more for story flavor than to deny the PCs a claim on the building.

When the assault begins on the roadhouse, Orin sends his family to a small, secret bolt-hole in the attic, designed as a safe room just in case – after all the place is all alone in the middle of nowhere, so it makes sense there would be something like this. Orin goes to defend the roadhouse along with the others, and dies tragically. But the thugs and Alleybashers ransacking the place don’t find the secret room where Orin’s wife Tessa is hiding with their two children: son Denny, age 10, and daughter Sara, age 8. If the PCs are very thorough, they may find the secret door in the ceiling of the family’s bedroom, and rescue them (which would be a nice find amidst all the tragedy); or they will emerge after a day or two of hiding. They will obviously still own the Lucky Monkey, and with some help from Shensen will begin to rebuild it. Maybe the PCs will even add to the rebuilding effort since they will have already met the family previously.

3 – The other change I wanted to mention since some people like myself don’t have Cauldron placed in a sub-tropical environment. I really like the concept of the Lucky Monkey, with its cavorting monkeys defying danger at every turn, but since there are no monkeys naturally occurring where I’ve placed Cauldron, I needed a reason for the roadhouse to have such a theme. I came up with the idea that Orin’s great-grandfather was a sailor who traveled all over the Azure Sea and points south. He loved the exotic flora and fauna of the tropics, and had a particular fascination with monkeys. When he finally retired and settled down, he built a roadhouse decorated with his favorite animal.

As mentioned in #1 above, I plan on having the PCs spend the night there before they get to Cauldron. I want them to get to know the owners and meet Shensen, all of which will make the events in Flood Season that much more meaningful. When they arrive, they will see that Orin has recently had a few potted banana trees shipped in to place outside the front and side doors to add to the ambiance. He happily tells anyone who comes to stay about his recent acquisitions. He also mentions that he heard the same shipment that had his banana trees also had several baboons on it. He has no idea why (“Maybe someone is starting a circus or something”), but he mentions how he would love to have a few for his courtyard, it would really add to the ambiance of the place…. (Be careful what you wish for Orin). Thus I can also keep Tongueater and his baboon troupe in the story as well.

My group is early in the SCAP, and I’m thinking that Vhalantru will offer to become a patron of the PCs, as there are too many great RPing possibilities there to miss, and I’m already savouring their eventual discovery of the truth later. My question is: What exactly does Vhalantru actually do for the PCs?

On the one hand, it must be believable that he wants to do this and that he has the PCs best interests in mind; while on the other he’s really not interested in helping them too much lest they become a threat, and by Chapter 4 he wouldn’t really be sad to see them all dead.

So I’m trying to think of what Vhalantru’s patronage means. Some of the ideas I’ve come up with so far:

- Providing each PC with a masterwork weapon or piece of armour. Fairly significant for a low-level party, but not a lot in the bigger scheme of things.
- Paying for their rooms at the inn, or perhaps even providing them with a small house where he can keep a closer eye or three on them.
- I’m planning on pulling out all the stops when I run delvesdeep’s wonderful Demonskar Ball scenario. I can see Vhalantru helping the PCs prepare for this with advice, making sure they get the proper lessons and costumes, hiring a carriage for them, etc. Perhaps part of his motivation for this is knowing that the Stormblades dislike the PCs and are hoping they make fools of themselves at the ball. Vhalantru has no love for the other nobles in town, and it’s a chance to get a dig in at them and have a bit of fun before the real fireworks start.
- Offer to help cut through any red tape when dealing with town hall and the authorities.

In exchange, Vhalantru will of course want to hear about the PCs exploits in detail, which naturally helps him keep close tabs on their abilities and powers, as well as know what’s going on in the area.

So does anybody have other ideas as to what Vhalantru’s patronage means?

BTW, I just saw Robert Brambley’s post on Vhalantru as I was about to post this. I’m planning on introducing Vhalantru very early. After the PCs rescue the orphans in Life’s Bazaar, Jenya will arrange an audience with the lord mayor (as suggested in the magazine version – not sure if it made into the book version). Lord Vhalantru will be there, and will seem so impressed by the PC’s accomplishments that he will invite them to his manor for dinner. At dinner he will show them around, explaining how he’s always liked to encourage and sponsor young adventurers, and became fond enough of many of them to have stone likenesses made in their honor…. After dinner he will then offer to become the PCs patron as well.

@delvesdeep – The idea of passing Vhalantru off as comical and harmless is brilliant. I think that’s a great way to help allay any of the PCs suspicions, and I will definitely be stealing the idea.

(long post)

The scale of the main Cauldron city map has been bothering me for quite some time. I’m not expecting everything to fit perfectly to scale (though it would be nice if it did). But things are so out of whack relative to each other that I needed to take a closer look. So I got my ruler and calculator out tonight and did some measuring.

The obvious place to start is the scale bar on the map of Cauldron at the front of the map book. Going straight from this, the city is 4,470 feet in diameter. Impressive. But at this scale, all the buildings are way, way too big. The streets are nearly 200 feet wide. Town Hall is 720 feet long! Even Keygan Ghelve’s shop is almost 200 feet long.

So I looked at the measurements of some of the buildings that are shown on other maps, and compared those measurements to their representation on the big map.

For reference, on the big map, Cauldron is 360mm across from one wall to the other.

Town Hall is 80 feet along its long axis on the Town Hall map. It is 100 feet on the Riot Scene map. It is the most out of proportion building on the big map (on the too big side). On that map it is 22mm long. At 100 feet, that would make Cauldron 1,636 feet in diameter.

(I’m rounding some numbers, but the way I got to that is 360mm divided by 22mm = 16.36 town hall units. If each unit is 100 feet, that’s 16.36 x 100 = 1,636 feet).

If town hall is only 80 feet long, then Cauldron is only 1,309 feet in diameter.

The Temple of Wee Jas is the most out of proportion building on the too small side. It’s supposed to be 150 feet across, but on the big map it is much smaller than town hall, and about the same size as both House Rhiavadi and House Vhalantru. But it consequently comes the closest to matching the scale printed on the map book. At 13mm on the big map, Cauldron is then 4,155 feet in diameter. The problem however remains that everything else is then too big.

If the map of House Rhiavadi is correct, then Cauldron is 2,355 feet across. If House Vhalantru is the one, then its 1,584 feet.

Many numbers, but no resolution. So I went at it from another direction: Looking at the size of the streets, what is a reasonable width for them? In a real medieval town, they would be pretty narrow. But here in Cauldron they look like they’re made pretty wide (maybe so that there is plenty of room to maneuver and keep things moving on its steep and curving streets). But wide streets also help in trying to find a happy middle ground for scale.

On the big map, the streets are about 5mm across. Let’s say each street is 40 feet wide, then that makes Cauldron 2,880 feet in diameter. That’s over half-a-mile, which seems about right – I think I could live with that.

So, at that scale, town hall is still over 160 feet long, but as I said, it was the worst of the bunch. Maybe I’ll add a few rooms and make it a grander building than it is in the book. At the other end, Wee Jas is 106 feet – certainly too small, but not a deal breaker. House Rhiavadi is also about 106 feet, which is only a little too big (it should be 85 feet).

Now I at least have a single scale that is somewhat believable when looking at the big city map. That done, I won’t get into the problems with the isometric-view drawing of the city….

What have others done concerning the scale issue?

***

A related note on population

While doing all the scale stuff, I started wondering how accurate the map was in representing a city of 7,500 souls. I did some VERY rough calculations for that, and it isn’t too bad.

I divided off one quarter of the city and counted all the buildings – there were 189. Multiplied by 4 = 756. I rounded that up to 800 just to be generous. If one-quarter of those are used strictly for business, that leaves 600 in which people can live. 7,500 divided by 600 = 12.5 people per building. Given that many buildings house more than one family, and that families were often large, that seems completely reasonable.

(You know, usually I see a post like this by someone else, and I think, okay, I’m not the most obsessed one around here. Actually, I still don’t think I’m the most obsessed one around here, but this doesn’t help….)

Back around the birth of 3e – maybe before, I’m just not sure – there was a Dungeon adventure that featured a whale with druid levels. Does anyone remember what issue that was in?

I remember thinking at the time what a great concept that was, and as I’m looking for sea-related adventures right now, I’d love to pull that one out. Any help is greatly appreciated.

And you cant just beef up the numbers on the fighter, for instance, your idea of a fighter thats 'highly resistant to magic' is problematic. Because if he is dramatically more restant to magic, he trivializes the encounter with the evil wizard. If he's just a little bit more resistant to magic, well you are in the same boat as Fx lead us too, just with a different variable.

However this is exactly what the 1st edition Fighter was. They had some of the best saving throws in the game, because they didn't have magic and focused all of their training on being able to overcome whatever the magical world they existed in could throw at them.

I'm not sure why 3.0+ has insisted on making the Fighter the stereotypical dumb-jock. PF did a decent job in updating their fighting abilities from 3.X, but they're still 2/3 pathetic in the saves department.

Of course, that's off-topic.

Maybe I'm just a disgruntled old-school gamer, but one thing I always wondered about these kinds of posts is how the characters know that these items are available in-game? How does the monk character have this obscure lore about the functions and interactions of various magical items? Does he have a high degree of skill in Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft? Does he even have ANY?

Magic item creation is kind of a cottage industry. There are now ioun stone factories churning out a vast quantity of the exact kind of stone the player wants. How is the item just readily available because the player decided that he wants it?

WBL is a great tool for balancing the game. . . For the DM. It should never be used as a tool for the players to inform you of what items they have. Even if the character has the necessary skills to know about these things, how are the items automatically available? Does he start putting out feelers among merchants to find them? Do they sense how badly he wants the items and jack up the price accordingly?

In short, call BS when people try to meta-game like this. Bare minimum, make getting the items a serious challenge for them.

That seems to be designer M.O. Instead of admitting that something doesn't reflect reality and expanding the bounds of a weapon's attack possibility, just create a feat to allow someone to do it or give a huge penalty when they try it. Like the thread on here about having to take a -4 to use the butt of a spear to hit someone because it's technically an improvised weapon.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Ross Byers wrote:

But this is a digression: I was agreeing with the idea that crossbows were designed as simple weapons, and they are quite deliberately not as good as bows. And I'm okay with that.

And I was stating that even with the penalties, I still find the bow preferable to the crossbow.

So, for my level 2 sorcerer, I should prefer a 25% chance of doing 1d8-1 damage to a 45% chance of doing 1d8, just to save a move action? Even if that move action doesn't occur during combat, or I wouldn't have moved anyway? (I'm assuming a target with an AC of 14, since that's the Bestiary guideline for CR 2)

Saying 'both options are so bad you should use a cantrip instead' is moving the goalposts.

Sorry. I don't have a lot of sympathy for the character that eventually gets to nuke entire villages having to struggle at the beginning with not being optimal in combat with a weapon.

Separating one historical era from another is highly problematic. Historians usually do so by selecting a significant development that was instrumental in the transition of one era to another, in this case the development was humanism. It seems to be an artificial distinction to draw, and it is. Historians debate when eras begin or end all of the time. I assert that humanism was an important element in the establishing the Renaissance era.

Again, humanism has little to nothing to do with secular humanism in this context.

To state that the Renaissance didn't happen because it wasn't ubiquitous in Western society is akin to stating that plate armor never developed because foot soldiers didn't get access to it.

colemcm wrote:

I think it's a mistake to treat the renaissance as something that didn't really happen. Of course it's difficult to define when one era transitions into another, but the emergence of the humanism had a profound impact on the development of Western society. This is what the renaissance was.

If the renaissance was only humanism, we'd only be talking about humanism. The renaissance is also thought to be a period of reborn western culture, increased secular learning, and quality of life. Except that for the vast majority of european people, this wasn't the case.

• Education didn't become significantly widespread, staying in the hands of the wealthy and the nobility
  
• Most humanists were not truly secular thinkers, and many were even members of the clergy.
  
• The term implies that the medieval age was a period of non-learning, stuck between the Romans and the Renaissance. This isn't the case.
  
• Most people still lived rurally and worked agriculturally. It wasn't as if this was a period of technological revolution.
  
• Mortality rates increased in some areas of Europe, so it wasn't as if increases in quality of life were universal

Even if we were to say it was something that happened, "The Renaissance" is a laughably Eurocentric view to apply to a setting like Golarion or any that stretches beyond the typically Western trappings of fantasy. The far East and most of the Islamic world were either not influenced by Aristotle, or had already been studying Greek and Roman philosophy for centuries.

I never made the claim that no learning occurred during the medieval period. Nor have I claimed that everyone's life was enriched during this time.

Humanism was not a secular movement, it was a religious one. It was a revival of Greek/Hellenistic methods of thought in the process of learning, which had formally been based pretty much on interpreting scripture. It also saw the application of these methods (primarily Platonic and Aristotelian thought) to interpreting scripture. This was a significant departure from the vast majority of medieval learning and that distinction is important.

As far as applying the renaissance to Golarion, I've already stated that I was referring to it in the same way that the DM's Guide uses the ter renaissance as a demarcation of technological development. I make no assertion that our world and Golarion are analogous in any way. So everyone can stop trying to set this straw man argument on fire.

I think it's a mistake to treat the renaissance as something that didn't really happen. Of course it's difficult to define when one era transitions into another, but the emergence of the humanism had a profound impact on the development of Western society. This is what the renaissance was.

Viewing history from a vulgar perspective is a relatively new approach. It was usually viewed from the perspective of high society.

Unfortunately, codifying the alignment system would probably lead to adding a section to the book that is almost as large as the magic section.

Once again, relating this because it was ignored.

Pathfinder is medieval setting. MEDIEVAL SETTINGS IT IS COMPLETELY CANON AND WITHIN THE REALM OF GOOD TO KILL EVIL SIMPLY FOR BEING EVIL.

First: Pathfinder's not really a medieval setting. It's more of a renaissance setting.

Second: Don't confuse the propaganda of who these men were with the reality. These knights were not paladins as the game describes them. Giving them holy titles had more to do with the exercise of political power on the part of the church. The church described them as good because they served the church. Much like terrorist organizations describe suicide bombers as good. This is not a matter of morality (which alignment is), it's a matter of political power.

Propaganda of what is good is not the same as the reality of what is good.

Using Dex as the primary combat stat makes sense for systems that have a defense value, but since D&D incorporates armor as defense instead of damage mitigation, Str makes more sense.

If armor provided DR, Dex would make more sense, since striking someone would be a matter of one person's agility against the agility of another. Str would still be required to determine damage.

It's been a long time since I played, actually. I usually ended up doing very episodic adventures. My group only got together every couple of weeks, so details easily got lost in the shuffle between games.

Anyways, I'd usually start at the end of the plot. Then work my way back, adding NPCs (how/if they're involved) and add in extra possible hooks. Kind of an "all roads lead to Rome" approach. Not all hooks get noticed, so it's good to have back-ups.

I like personalized stories, so I have my players write up detailed histories and base some of my games off of those.

-I find these arguments over paladins a sign of the amorality of the times.

-60 years ago they would not have such arguments.

That's not really true. The idea that people are less moral than they used to be is a fallacy.

My dad thinks that people were nicer in the '50s and they were. . . if you were a white kid living in middle-class suburbia. It wasn't so good for a lot of other people.

A little over 60 years ago the U.S. gave immunity to Japanese scientists who had engaged in gruesome biological and chemical experimentation on Chinese citizens in exchange for the results of their research. If you don't believe me, look up Unit 731. It's well documented.

There is no Golden Age. Every generation has to learn what it means to be moral.

Guys, please remember this is d&d. It's medieval fantasy. Back then it was ok to kill people just for being evil. You can rule it however you wish in your games but the "you can't kill them just because they're evil" is a much more modern mind set.

If only this were a thing of the past. The idea that you can kill whoever you want because they're evil is still alive and kicking.

Please tell me that the were-rabbit is a wandering samurai.

One thing that's always bothered me about D&D is the incredible historical inaccuracy of weapon statistics.

• Most of the weapon's weights are messed up.
• Longswords and bastard swords are consider different weapons and you cannot perform a thrusting maneuver with either of them.
• A buckler is a small shield worn on the forearm that you cannot bash someone with, when the exact opposite of both of those is the truth.
• Falchions somehow became two-handed scimitars.
• Only composite bows allow for greater draw weights.
• Apparently the butt end of a spear is not a viable weapon.
• Kamas and sickles are somehow different.
• A single lead sling bullet weighs in at 1/2 lb., instead of about 1 oz.
• A sap requires military level training.

I'm sure there are more, but you get my point.

With only a week to start and play a game, I wonder if a simpler OSR game, like Swords & Wizardry or Basic Fantasy RPG, isn't a better option. There's a lot less crunch that a player has to do in order to make a character and it leaves a lot more up to their imagination.

Regardless of the nonsense that is the Lawful alignment, a paladin's code demands that they respect legitimate authority. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the paladin is probably operating in a society that is against murdering people and has passed laws against it.

The paladin may think that their deity/cause gives them all the authorization they need, but if I were DMing this paladin, he'd be tried and executed for murder by the government of the country he's in.

Evil People are Evil folks. They are truly down to their core Evil and reprehensible people. Killing someone who is Evil for "no reason but he's evil(Which means he's done something horrible in his lifetime or has been eking it out over the years but apparently that doesn't matter because the Paladin doesn't know that)" is still an objectively Good action in a world with Objective Morality. Evil was killed thus there is less Evil in the world which by comparison is Good.

I've got to disagree with you. Killing people is never a good act. It may be a necessary act, but it's never good. Good is for the benefit of all, including evil people. When an evil person causes harm and refuses to turn away from his course of action, that's when the good person must act against them. Killing is the last resort, even if it's the best option.

The biggest problem with the Fighter is that he's poorly envisioned and executed. A Fighter should not be about specialization, but about generalization. A Fighter should be about being versatile and deadly regardless of the circumstances he finds himself in and no matter what weapon he's armed with. Leave specialization to Rangers and Paladins.

So here's what I'd recommend for Fighters:

1. Ditch Weapon Training and give them a level-based damage bonus that works with any weapon. Fighters know that you have to use the right tool to get the job done. Just as a hammer makes a crappy screwdriver, a greatsword isn't always the appropriate weapon. A longspear is a much better weapon against a dragon and a shortsword is far more functional inside a building or tunnel. A warrior that spends all his effort on a single weapon is going to fall short when that weapon can't be used.
2. All of their saving throws should be good. The Fighter is a non-magical character in a magical world. They know what they're up against and they would have trained to overcome whatever strategies/abilities an enemy will throw at them. They may not have magic, but the're not idiots.
3. Reduce the number of bonus feats they get and give them access to special tactical abilities that allow them to counter their opponents' offensive and defensive strategies.
4. Give them 4 skill points as a base and at least Perception as a class skill. We can move past the trope that Fighters are big, dumb guys in armor that need others to think for them. That character should be an option, not a mandate.

Agreed. I didn't want to bring in the Intelligence factor for skills because, even though it has a definite impact, it's too variable. I chose instead to remove the individual character from the equation and compare only what the classes actually grant.

In my opinion, many (not all) of the threads like this on this site revolve around one issue; a player desires to play a character concept and are forced to play a character class instead. Quite simply, Pathfinder is poorly suited to support any character concept that goes beyond the character concept inherent to a class. Pathfinder is better than past versions of D&D, but it's still limited to class roles and doesn't like to blur those lines.

That's exactly why martial classes should be fixed. A martial class shouldn't HAVE TO dip into anything else to be an effective class.

Guy

I think dipping into Monk would set them back. They'll get a lot more benefit from Fighter levels, especially if they push through to 11th when they get Counterattack and can make AoOs against enemies that hit them in combat (with Combat Reflexes and a 20+ DEX, that's a lot of extra attacks in a round).

The bonus to saves would help them in the short run, but they get enough feats as a Fighter to take Iron Will and the like if they want to bolster their saves.

Plus, Monk is too MAD for a 15 point game.

Doug

Sorry about that, I should have included a breakdown. I'll do that here and edit my first post as well.

The 22 AC comes from:
• DEX +5 dodge
• Fighting defensively +6 dodge
- (Acrobatics +3, Steel Net +2, Crane Style +1)
• Shield +1
- Aldori Dueling Mastery (which you get for free from the Aldori
Swordlord PrC at 1st).

The +2 dodge bonus when making a full attack is from the archetype's 3rd level Defensive Parry ability.

Edit: never mind. It's too late to edit my earlier post.

Which version of PF are you playing? In the current edition, half-orcs and humans have the exact same stat bonus.

+1 "Masterwork qualities besides +1 to hit/+2 to a skill/-1 armor check penalty."

I'd like to see rules for masterwork qualities that grant bonuses for or penalties against specific combat maneuvers or expand the max dex range for armors. i.e. anti-disarm swords, sunder blades, masterwork leather armor that isn't almost entirely pointless, etc. . .