I figured actual food at the table would be a bit too much (after all, we don't /.../ wear a chain-mail bikini).
Wait. What?! You don't?? My players told me that it was just part of the culture...
Dammit.
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I think that I've Got Reach has got the measure of it. If your players are not generally interested in 'acting' then take the acting out of it. Search for the thread with recipes for Zeech feast. Or make up some of your own. Liberal use of pasta, green food coloring, jello, etc. should help you to whip up some disgusting dishes for them to try. There are some fun moments for the roll-players (the cockatrice battle, bowling heads etc.) and when you get to the feast itself bringing the fantasy world to life a little by serving a Turducken or something might help them to enjoy the spectacle. Instead of it becoming a role-playing debacle, it might become a highlight of the campaign. Such are my hopes anyway, though we're a module behind you so I don't speak from personal experience.
Also, I don't think that haste will allow you to cast multiple spells in a round which is what you made it sound like you allowed to happen. You can move faster, attack one extra time when making a full attack, and that's about it.
This happened a while ago, but I never got around to posting it. PC Name: Vivitrox (Wizard 10)
Long Description: The party entered into hostilities with the salamander and his fire elemental servant just as they were finishing off the black pudding. Things were going well for them, especially in the cramped confines of the corridor (which made the DM curse)until the salamander pulled off a successful dispel magic on the cleric. The cleric had been under freedom of movement in the middle of a field of Evard's Black Tentacles of Forced Intrusion. Suddenly the party-friendly spells weren't so friendly and had to be dismissed. This really changed the tide of battle and the party began to retreat through to the pudding's room. The doorway to the room was blocked by a wall of fire and the party hastily readied their defense. When another fire elemental appeared right next to them (summoned by the salamander) Vivitrox flew backwards to get out of it's range. Sadly, this brought the wizard neatly into the salamander's clutching hands. Vivitrox fell unconscious after taking constrict and fire damage, but the cleric brought him back with a mass cure light wounds. Vivitrox had one chance to save himself, but blew his concentration check while casting dimension door, and next thing he knew he was being dragged through the wall of fire which toasted his flesh to a delicious medium brown with the juices still running out of him. It smelled like bacon. Vivitrox was raised shortly after to continue the exploration of the tomb.
I know that the folks at Paizo rarely leave their desks and are frequently seen posting on the messageboards on Saturdays and Sundays. And I knew that this must be an incredible amount of work for all three judges. And I know that many of the contestants have pulled all-nighters, agonizing over their entries. Even so, it's impressive to me that Erik Mona is here posting at a little after 2 a.m. local time. I'd like to tip my hat to the three judges for their hard work to make this contest such a barrel of fun for the rest of us. Thanks guys, you're doing great.
I read about 75% of the posts in this thread, so pardon me if this has already been covered/suggested. This sounds like a crazy question, but - any restrictions on alignment? There were clearly some evil countries entered. What if you play in an evil campaign? The villain might also be evil, or it might be that goody-two shoes paladin who keeps messing with your evil plans. At the beginning, the villain was described as an "antagonist" for the PCs. A person of good alignment could well be an antagonist, but I can also see people crying out "Hey you were supposed to design a villain not a hero!" This might be self-correcting because so few people would care to vote for the LG "villain", but I thought I'd ask about it anyway.
I somehow missed this when it first was posted. Sweet model, K. Scion. That's a thing of, well, I hesitate to call it beauty, because we're talking about a giant maggot, but you get the idea. Truly, I am impressed.
Thank Belfur. I hope that it works out. I don't mind doing a little bit of handwaving as a DM to make things work like they're supposed to, but Flycatcher seemed like a pretty big leap for me to make as a newish DM. I don't mind too much if his hit and run tactics don't work overly well, but I'm about to go after the paladin's mount and I'm really hoping he doesn't make his will save. The players are currently squished between the black pudding and the salamander with fire elemental who just appeared on scene. By having Flycatcher pick this moment to abduct the horse I'm hoping to send the players into conniptions. And hoping that Flycatcher might get the 2 or 3 rounds he needs to make a clean getaway.
I came across the same problem that Joseph Jolly did and found this thread while researching. I wasn't that excited about the phase spider options, nor was I too interested in class levels for Flycatcher. I prevailed upon the wonderful expertise of Moff Rimmer to help create a different Flycatcher that better suited my needs. To start with, he created an advance bebilith with the Shadow template from the Manual of the Planes. You can find that creature here. I decided to alter it a little bit further to better capture the hit and run tactics of Flycatcher. Hopefully I haven't created anything too unbalanced here. Changes that I made: I removed both Improved Natural Armor feats for Multiattack and Ability Focus (abduction) which leaves Flycatcher with a pretty weak AC, though better than the original. I also kept the improved grab option from the original Flycatcher. May you find this to be useful! Once again, a thousand thanks to Moff Rimmer for doing the lion's share of the work here. Flycatcher
Skills Climb +23, Diplomacy +5, Hide +17, Jump +33, Knowledge (arcana) +1, Knowledge (the planes) +2, Listen +15, Move Silently +24, Search +16, Sense Motive +13, Spot +16, Survival +11 Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 25, initial damage 1d6 Con, secondary damage 2d6 Con. Bebilith venom is highly perishable, losing its potency and becoming inert, foul-smelling goo almost as soon as it comes into contact with air. The save DC is Constitution-based. Rend Armor (Ex): If Flycatcher hits with both claw attacks, it pulls apart any armor worn by its foe. This attack deals 4d6+18 points of damage to the opponent's armor. Creatures not wearing armor are unaffected by this special attack. Armor reduced to 0 hit points is destroyed. Damaged armor may be repaired with a successful Craft (armorsmithing) check. Web (Ex): Flycatcher can throw a web up to four times per day. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 30 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet. This attack is effective against targets of up to Gargantuan size. The web anchors the target in place, allowing no movement. An entangled creature can escape with a DC 25 Escape Artist check or burst the web with a DC 25 Strength check. The web has 14 hit points and hardness 0. There is a 75% chance that the webbing will not burn if any sort of fire is applied to it (check each round). Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, Flycatcher must hit with both claw attacks. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to abduct the foe the following round. Abduction (Su): Flycatcher can transport other creatures to the Plane of Shadow, similar to the spell plane shift but with access only to the Plane of Shadow. Due to it's innate connection to the Plane of Shadow, Flycatcher does not suffer problems with accuracy when using this ability. It can bring up one Large or smaller creature with it each time it uses this ability. It can shift unwilling targets as well, although an unwilling victim can attempt a DC 20 Will save to resist being transported. The save DC is Charisma-based. (caster level 12th). Shadow Blend (Su): In any conditions other than full daylight, a shadow bebilith can disappear into the shadows, giving it total concealment. Artificial illumination, even a light or continual flame spell, does not negate this ability. A daylight spell, however, will. Skills: Shadow Bebiliths gain a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks and a +6 bonus on Move Silently checks.
Thanks for the answers. I figured that these kinds of things would be still on the "to be implemented when Gary has a free decade" list. I thought that a gift card would be a nice way for someone to contribute a portion of my Pathfinder subscription which I could just use to pay for the months as they go by. Anyway, I guess I'll have to try to be creative on my own for this year. Or maybe I won't be able to continue to be a Pathfinder subscriber. Yucky. Stupid finances.
Hopefully this isn't already covered elsewhere. I am currently a Pathfinder subscriber but next year is going to be extremely tight financially. I would very much love to be able to continue receiving Pathfinders though, and I thought that perhaps I could suggest it as a Christmas present that friends or family could give to me. Currently there doesn't seem to be a mechanic to do this though. I know that "wish lists" are on the list of things to implement on the site and perhaps that would cover this. But I'd love to have a way for a family member to buy a gift certificate or something that I could apply to my Pathfinder subscription. If this has already been done, please help me out and point me to the right place. If it hasn't been done, please consider it so that I can somehow get more money into Paizo's hands over the holiday season. Thanks much.
I think that the monolith is untouchable. It's at least a major artifact and harbors a god. The spire itself might be able to be knocked down, but Rakshasa covered pretty well what Lashonna might do if they succeed there. This seems like one of those occasions where the PCs are trying to "outsmart" the story. If you view the process as collaborative storytelling, the players have just thrown away the script. I mean, it's nice to have some sense of free will (no railroad tracks) but at the same time, the adventure path comes with the idea that there is a specific story to tell. You as DM have probably laid down enough hints for them to head to Dragotha first. You can lay down a few more hints (an NPC who suggests that maybe ridding Kyuss of his greatest supporter would stop the Age of Worms), but if the players really don't want to participate in the story as written, I think that's ok. Let them head to Alhaster and face the consequences of their actions: Dragotha, Lashonna, and Kyuss will all be there to put the hurt on the PCs. It's unlikely that that they'll succeed. This particular attempt to outsmart the bad guys failed, and welcome to the Age of Worms.
I would go with what the adventure suggests: if they don't take care of Dragotha first, they're going to have a problem dealing with Kyuss. In this case, perhaps Lashonna successfully transported the monolith but then heard that the PCs weren't heading to Dragotha after all. Lashonna should confront the PCs on her own (maybe with some Blessed Angels, perhaps outside of Alhaster. She'll be pissed that her pawns didn't pwn the dracolich (sorry, couldn't resist) and she'll also be desperate to correct a bad mistake on her part. Namely that Kyuss' greatest enemies have not been diverted and now threaten his return. Likely the PCs will have a difficult time with Lashonna, as she's no pushover in her own right and her Blessed Angels will really help out. For the final fight against Kyuss, I think that they'll just have to do it with Dragotha instead of Lashonna as one of the final guardians. Also, there should be no Blessed Angels to help, because those were specifically Lashonna's pets. Mahuudril and some avolakias should still live and be around though. It just seems to me that you shouldn't make things easier for the PCs. Sometimes heroes make mistakes. And when they do and the fate of the world is at stake, then sometimes evil wins. Don't be afraid to let the Age of Worms happen!
Thanks Cos!
I'm looking to purchase the DM's screen and I was hoping to combine with my Pathfinder shipping as well. Is this kind of thing possible? And would it be possible with an item the size of the DM screen? Thanks.
I think that you can just describe the Allip's incorporeal garb as being wizard's robes. An Allip wears robes as it is (if I recall the picture correctly), so just add some color and make them wizards robes. As far as the will save - clearly [brace yourself, I'm gonna start making stuff up out of whole cloth] the arcane residue laced within the walls is what created the Allip. Since the worshippers of Vecna are immune to that kind of stuff, they must be immune to the Allip. Or they just get a +4 circumstance bonus on their will saves. Or something. My players encountered the Allip first, and took care of it first before heading in to deal with everyone else.
You're skipping over the Wormcrawl fissure entirely, which I think is fine. But what might be fun is to fight Dragotha. I mean Dragotha dude! I'm not quite sure how to tell the story so that they get Bucknard's fragments to help them with that fight, and those fragments are probably key. But Tensor could easily muster a crew to go in and nab Dragotha's phylactery after they emancipate the Library of Last Resort. Ok, my ideas are coming faster than I can type. How's this: Players go to PoRH and learn location of Library before the feast (somehow). Lashonna urges them to head to Wormcrawl to get Dragotha after the feast. This gives time for a)Lashonna to nab Kyuss' monolith (and explain why it's not in Redhand when the PCs arrive and b)lets Tensor free the Library while the PCs are feasting. The PCs head to the Tabernacle of Worms hoping that Tensor and crew can find and destroy Dragotha's phylactery before the PCs finally meet the dracolich. When Library is freed, Bucknard's spirit joins the PCs as part of the deal, so that they've got a chance against Dragotha and giving them directions to the Tabernacle. You could trim out most of the Tabernacle and just have the PCs teleport into the chamber where Dragotha is (which is what Bucknard did too). Perhaps Dragotha tells them of the theft of the monolith and Lashonna's complicity. Anyway, after the dracolich is dead, it's a race back to Alhaster and directly up the spire to face everyone there. Thus, you pretty much get two major battles after PoRH: Dragotha and Kyuss. You might even explain that Bucknard or some effect of the Library boosts the PCs by...4 levels. :-) As for the other stuff in SoLS, yeah, I'd get rid of those nagas. Maybe some of the wormswarms down at the bottom of the hole too. And definitely the naga sorceror. Keep in the fight with Kelvos and also the spellweaver. I'd keep in the fight with the other two Knights of Kyuss too, but only because they look like fun to run as a DM. You might increase the story XP in the Spire too. I don't think that it will matter too much for the fights in the spire, nor will it be too big a deal for the fun in PoRH and it will definitely help you out later on trying to get them to the appropriate level for Kyuss without a DM deus-ex-machina "you're all now level 21!". Truth be told, you could have Tensor going after the Library while your PCs are in the Spire. Maybe no one knows where Dragotha is (except of course for Lashonna) which is why the PCs need to travel to PoRH to talk to her. Lashonna can tell them where, and as they arrive at the edge of the rift, Bucknard's spirit joins them (however you want to work that) and tells them how to teleport directly into the Tabernacle. Sorry for my really scattered thoughts. My brain isn't really working today (I'm at home, sick). I hope that you can pull a few kernels out of this mess. Basically, I like the idea of Tensor sharing some of the load. It is kind of more realistic. It makes it seem as though Tensor is fighting alongside of the PCs in a race to save the world. Tensor can be at the Library while the PCs are in the Spire, and then Tensor can be going after the phylactery while the PCs are in Redhand. He can tell them about the mighty things that he had to do to help. "Check it out, I had to battle a freaking TITAN to open up that damned Library. Stupid druids. And then, while you knuckleheads were living it up with Prince Zeech, I got caught in the middle of a battle between a whole city of giants and an armada of dragons! And through all of that, I'm trying to find two stupid little keys to open the vault where the phylactery was stored. Why design the vault like that? Stupid druids." Good luck. I may be in the same boat as you as far as having to rush things a bit, so please let us know how it pans out.
Nice site Paul. I am particularly impressed with your tracking of party XP. That level of organization is going to stand you in good stead as you approach higher levels.
Why worry about the aura of necromancy etc.? Most of the time, the Kyuss worms are inside another creature which is an undead creature. There are only a couple of cases where you might encounter them outside something undead, and the literature (online and published) is pretty clear that they're vermin. That's why the spell Repel Vermin works on them. I'd say don't mess with it. Your players won't need any more information about them.
Well, this might go beyond the scope of the kind of thing that you're looking for, but why not allow them to figure out what the wands do? If a character has that spell on their list, there's a good chance that they could do that anyway through trial and error. IMC, I decided that the mystery of what a magical item might do was only of passing importance. The dependence upon getting a pearl to cast identify just didn't seem to enhance the game very much. I followed the advice present on WoTC's site (I wish I knew where now) suggesting that you could make identifying an item purely a function of spellcraft. Identify and analyze dweomer give you a +20 on your spellcraft check to help with the process. Also, identifying via spellcraft takes one minute of study, not a full hour. Therefore one still cannot identify something in the middle of a battle, but it's perfect for times like these and for getting needed magical aid into the hands of your players in a timely fashion. I can dig around for the rules, or a link to the WoTC site if you'd like to consider adopting this variant. I haven't found that it's taken any fun out of our game whatsoever.
Well, I didn't give my players the chance to flee to town. I mean, the aspect smashed the elevator and was waiting for them down there. There was no way to get by. First of all, do they have the means to heal themselves? If they don't, you should remember that wand of cure light wounds that the Faceless One kept around that you forgot to tell your players about. Oh yeah, THAT one! Sure it only has...*rolls some dice*...23 charges left on it, but it's still pretty valuable. If they can heal themselves, I wouldn't worry about them too much. The thing is truly scary, yes. But can also be very limited by terrain. My players drew it into the Erythnul caves for instance, causing the thing to be squeezed in the entrance passage. This allowed the effective use of tanglefoot bags and greataxes to much greater effect. Sure your spellcasters might be running low on spells, but they just found some cool stuff (wand of magic missile anyone?) to help them out. It's a good fight, but a doable one. 
I've got the spirit! And it's moving me to transform into some sort of cyclopean lemming. Woot! Erik Mona Day! Thanks Erik.
Well, would you like to share what you came up with? Sorry I didn't respond to your first post but, I a)missed it and b)don't have anything to offer on this subject. I'd love to hear what you came up with though!
I don't post much. But I'll sign that declaration of friendependence. Here's to the most personable and friendly messageboards on the internet. May it forever stay that way! *signs in large flowing script* Eltanin 
No no no. You guys don't get it! This thread is so, like, 20 minutes ago man. The Smurf Brigade is here! That's all that matters now! Leave Gargamel to his vomiting.
I've got my smurfing board ready to go. Can someone put some sun tan lotion on my back? I don't want to get burned while I'm in the Green Room, dude. Hang ten, brah!
Okay, I see the problem. Clearly this is one of those entries which requires a certain amount of DM interpretation. Here are my suggestions: Differentiate between "automatic grapple" and regular old grapple. If a character strikes the mimic (with an unarmed strike), he is automatically grappled and cannot get free. However, I'm not sure that this should impose a grapple penalty upon the mimic. It is not having to do anything to maintain the grapple, so I don't see that it should take it's normal penalties for grappling. However, because the character is stuck just somewhere on the body of the mimic, the mimic should not have the opportunity to crush either. On the mimic's turn, it can lash out with a pseudopod for a slam. Subsequent sticking counts as automatic grappling (though in this case perhaps the mimic should now suffer penalties for grappling since it's pseudopod is now involved). If the mimic wishes to deal crush damage, it should have to make a regular grapple check, and without Improved Grapple, it should provoke the standard attacks of opportunity even from those that are stuck to it if the stuck people can successfully attack while grappling (i.e. they have a light weapon or unarmed strike and they take a -4 to hit). On a successful grapple, the mimic can then crush. I'm not sure that I'm making sense here, but basically I'm trying to interpret the intent of the rules, and picking and choosing from the RAW for grapple to fit the circumstances. Any automatic grapple from stickiness shouldn't cause crush damage. Automatic grapples from attacks upon the mimic shouldn't penalize it for grappling. Automatic grapples resulting from a mimic attack should penalize it as though it were grappling. One last thing: The rule about the grappler moving into the square of the being that he's grappling. I hate this rule. Not because it's not easy to adjudicate, but because most of the time, it makes no sense. The colossal red dragon grapples the halfling and has to move into it's square? Bah. I haven't drawn a big black line to decide when to ignore this rule, but if your grappling opponent is something like twice as heavy or four times as heavy or ten times as heavy, he ain't moving, and you're going to get drawn into his square if he grapples you. In this case mimics weigh 4,500 pounds. They're not moving. Characters should have to enter their square, setting the RAW aside. I recognize that everytime one departs from the RAW you open yourself up to contradictions and problems. I'm not confident in my abilities to do this successfully, so I try to avoid it. But when the RAW is already full of contradictions and problems, I feel a little easier about making my sandbox work like I want it to. Mimics are a cool creature. I'd rather have the intent of their abilities pan out than have to follow some byzantine and nonsensical rules about it and thus make the monster more trouble than it's worth. Anyway, those are my two coppers.
This very thread is the kind of thing that makes Paizo such an awesome company. Erik, you could read our messages or not, take our suggestions or not, but we'll still be happy because you've shared a little of what you're thinking about. It allows us to feel like we're part of the family. Thank you. And, because you've asked for it, my plans: I think that I will be forced to stop my Pathfinder subscription after RoTRL. I have been astounded by the quality of the content in Pathfinder and I've really loved every little bit of it. It's just that I'm at a place in life where pennies matter. We just bought a house this year and before this time next year I expect to have a baby bouncing on my knee. Much as I love it, I can't keep paying for Pathfinder at this time. It's gonna hurt to miss these adventure paths. I'm going to hate it. And I'm going to do what I can to get back on the wagon as quickly as I can. Maybe someone will be nice and give me a year's subscription to Pathfinder as a Xmas present. Who knows. Anyway, I ramble. As far as 3.5 vs. 4.0, I gotta say that I will probably follow what Paizo does. If you deem 4.0 to be worth a shot, I'll probably try to move there when I get my D&D legs back under me. I have been inculcated with brand loyalty in my time hanging out on these messageboards. I have absolutely no loyalty when it comes to WoTC. They are working their PR machine overtime, and all it's doing is leaving me with that greasy car salesman feeling. I don't trust it. I don't trust that they'll come out with a product that I like. I certainly don't trust that they have my interests at heart (after making a living for themselves naturally). I don't mean to cast aspersions on individuals working for WoTC, but upon the corporation. I trust Paizo. If you guys made a 3.75 (or whatever), I'm sure that it would be the bees knees. I'd happily give it a shot. So for my 2 coppers, do whatever you guys want to do. I'll be there to back you as a customer as soon as I can afford to spend anything.
Thanks for the wonderful run-down Hastur. That was totally helpful and very entertaining. I look forward to the sequel!
I like to post what happened just in case it helps out future researchers. Despite all my angsty-hand wringing beforehand, in the end it worked out almost as written. The party patron for the Games (Ekaym as written) received a note from Eligos just before the Games started. The street urchin who delivered it took too long (a full day), so the info couldn't be relayed to the PCs before the fight. I had the note talk about the repercussions of failure to stop the ritual with the Apostle of Kyuss. Otherwise the players never really know how close they came. This way they can cherish the knowledge that they saved thousands of people that day, even if no one else knows about it. Anyway, this mysterious note also mentioned that Eligos felt as though someone was on to him and that he was in danger and something about relating what he'd learned with Allustan and a 'mutual friend'. The PCs returned to Eligos' manor to find him dead and mutilated (lower jaw removed to prevent Speak With Dead). They were pretty shocked which was quite satisfying. Skipping over the details, they ultimately decided to send a 'Sending' message to Allustan, updating him on current events and asking him to contact them. The spell worked, but there was no reply (Allustan's in the trap in Icosiol's tomb already). A good enough spellcraft check helped them to realize that the spell would have failed if they had contacted a dead person. So they put two and two together and decided to get to Diamond Lake as quickly as possible. Luckily the Mage's Guild had a scroll of greater teleport. We ended the session with "The scene before you bears little resemblance to what you were expecting. Allustan's manor is little more than a smoking ruin." I love it when the players go for the bait on your plot hook. Thanks for the suggestions all.
Ok, I've been wracking my brains all week trying to think of a graceful way to work this and my brains hurt without getting me appreciably nearer to a solution. Here's the skinny: A while back we had to introduce a new wizard character while the group was in the Free City. It fit the player nicely to have had him be apprenticed to Tensor before Rary's betrayal. I was imagining the young wizard mostly running errands, maybe learning a first level spell or two, but thinking that he's really cool for hangin' with Tensor. Think Baker Street Irregulars from Sherlock Holmes stories. The player was as tickled by it as his character. Cool. But now this is coming back to bite me a little bit. We have just successfully averted disaster at the end of the Games and now it comes time for me to figure out how to get the party back to Diamond Lake. Bear with me here. We're having to introduce another new character here who will be a Diamond Lake native (rogue 5/druid 5). This is all well and good and gives me a vehicle to convey things if I need to. Now the published hooks are Eligos' note and the fact that there's a dragon in town. Eligos' note is a little tricky for me, because why would they need to or care about going back to talk to Allustan if the party wizard already knows Tensor (or did 10 years ago or however long it's been)? They don't necessarily need Allustan's introduction anymore. So I'll need to reword Eligos note...somehow. As far as the dragon, I'm having a hard time figuring out why the party would rush back to the town. Wouldn't they expect the higher ups to deal with natural disasters like an irate dragon? There is one remaining party member who is from Diamond Lake who would certainly wish to go back to check up on his family, but currently he's an NPC. So I don't want all of the motivation to come from the DM. What a fun night of roleplaying that will be. The DM talking to himself and the players riding the railroad. As for the new player, he just left Allustan's side 2 and a half days ago. It just doesn't seem as graceful as it could be to have him be the vehicle to call them back. "So your character trekked all the way to the big city, but now you need to scream for help and get back to your small town as quick as your little legs can carry you." I'd love to hear suggestions about how to bridge this slightly awkward moment between modules. Even if your plans, or what you did at this point, don't seem directly applicable, please share. Other stories always help spark ideas in my overtaxed noggin. Thanks for the help once again O Wondrous Paizonians.
That's a great idea! I've been thinking about this problem and wondering how to introduce the sphere. My players won't catch the historical reference any more than I would have. I'm too new to the game, and most of them have just played in homebrew worlds. I like the idea of creating the unlife vortex from the sphere too. Maybe Lashonna tracked it down too, or Mother Maggot. They got there first and took the sphere back to Alhaster. That way the players can still teleport to the place where the sphere is supposed to be, and find it missing. Tensor can be shocked, "It was there yesterday!?!" and the players can worry about who out there has the sphere and when it might be used against them. This will also explain why there might be some rods of cancellation (or whatever the anti-sphere rod is) around to curb the PC's uber-powerful artifact. The bad guys had been using it already and were prepared if the thing got out of control. Of course now there might need to be another talisman of the sphere around... Thanks for the nice ideas.
First of all, thank you very much Peruhain for your thoughtful, lengthy, and exhaustively detailed reply. Wonderful stuff there. I like most everything that you suggested. For the spawn, I decided to pretty much follow your advice. The spawn themselves are undead and are therefore immune to RV. However, any attempt to place a worm (whether by ranged attack or melee) upon a target within RV's sphere will automatically fail as the worm is either repelled by the barrier or takes 2d6 points of damage if inside. The same magic which unites worms and zombie into one being protects the worms from RV once they have begun to burrow into your flesh. They burrow by eating you after all, so perhaps they are no longer considered to be a separate entity. Anyway, that's how the magic will work. I have only one point to make about your catalog of higher level creatures. Wormswarm. At 12 HD, a wormswarm is basically immune to RV--it would take a 36th level caster to repel them. This statement is untrue where it suggests 'immunity' to RV due to HD. If a creature's HD are less than 1/3 the RV caster's level, then they are automatically repelled. Otherwise, the need to make a will save to enter, and upon success they take 2d6 points of damage. A wormswarm will never be less than 1/3 the caster's level, but they do need to make a will save. With a +4 will save, they are far far from being 'immune' to the spell. This is fine, just a small correction to your Tome of Understanding about Repel Vermin. I hereby nominate Peruhain of Brithondy to be the new Sage of the Paizo boards in loco parentis for the published Sage of yesteryear's Dragon magazine. All in favor, just post "Ask the Sage" questions directed at Peruhain.
The new chat room is da bomb (to use the vernacular). If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. Lilith I have two requests- Can we change the period of time that the room saves the chat history? Right now it's pretty short. Also, could we possibly, please, just maybe change the heading of the page? Instead of saying "DM Tools Chat Room", perhaps it could say something like "DM Tech Support". Just trying to make it more friendly for work you understand. *blushes*
Whoa! My campsite just got re-rendered into COLOR! Wowsers. Thanks Lilith!
Thanks for the links Deimodius. Those were the very threads that I was thinking of. The spell Repel Vermin is a far cry from a 1sp citronella candle though, and I think that it should have some effect. The question is where to draw the line and how to defend your position once it's drawn.
Sadly no. The worms are classified as vermin. I don't have the thread documentation to support this claim at the moment, but it has been discussed before, and if I recall correctly James Jacobs himself weighed in on the subject, confirming the verminous nature of the worms.
My players have been casting around for a way to keep them safe from worms. They're split between levels 9 and 10 right now, and it's amazing how challenging a few simple spawn can still be. I recently started a thread about the use of grease as a worm preventative, but now my players have returned to more conventional tactics. Last night we saw the first use of Repel Vermin and though I should have seen it coming, I found myself at a bit of a loss. If a verminous critter makes it's will save and crosses the barrier, it suffers 2d6 points of damage. That's enough to kill any worm of course. So if some PC has a worm inside them and the cleric approaches with her Repel Vermin sphere up, then presumably the worm is instantly destroyed. But what about the spawn? Should this act like the "Curative Transformation" weakness that they have? Should every spawn suddenly become a regular zombie? Doesn't that make this simple spell more powerful than it should be? For the rest of the AP, (almost) including Kyuss himself, all the players would need to do is have their repel vermin up and they reduce challenging fights to zombie smashing. Broodfiends? Just undead bugs now. My thought is that the spawn (or whatever Kyuss creations) should suffer the 2d6 points of damage, but all of the worms within them should not automatically be blasted out. But once in the sphere, could the spawn place a worm on the cleric successfully? And does this spell give a free ticket past any of the wormswarms in the Spire? I'd appreciate any thoughts and suggestions to moderate what could otherwise be sweeping ramifications for this spell. Admittedly, it's a 5th level spell and so should be powerful, but it shouldn't be the magic bullet to solving the Age of Worms problem. Thanks in advance.
Name: Kesh (monk 9)
Description: Kesh had not been with the party long. He had traveled from north of the Yatil mountains all they way to the Free City of Greyhawk where he had befriended a wizard of all things. The two of them were ensared in some sort of plot with a cleric from the city and a yokel from a nearby town rathole called Diamond Lake. The plot seemed to involve a mindflayer, some drow, and ultimately Loris Raknian. Like the whirlwind which he embodied, Kesh found himself swept up in great events and so he had entered the Champion's Games with his unlikely companions. The crowds were astounded by Kesh's speed and dexterity. His favorite tactic was to magically enlarge himself with a ring of spell-storing and then wrap his body around an opponent while the half-orc barbarian (read: yokel) beat on the hapless foe with a greataxe. Preferably the sharp slicey part of the axe. Kesh was a nice man, polite to friend and foe alike. He treated all with the same measure of respect, right before he floated across the floor in the blink of an eye, jammed your head into his sweaty armpit and began to squeeze. In a way, it was that phenomenal speed which got Kesh into trouble. The party had just found a nest of horrible undead known as the spawn of Kyuss right there beneath the Arena. After an initially embarassing beginning in which Kesh displayed his speed by running away, the party began to crush their foes inexorably. Kesh raced ahead around a corner to give chase to some fleeing undead (after making 7 Will saves in a row!) when suddenly a horrible cleric of Kyuss stepped out in front of him. A whirling barrier of magical blades appeared all around Kesh and he somersaulted forward (and away from everyone else) to escape it. Immediately after, his body stiffened with immobility as a mohrg caressed him with it's paralyzing tongue. The situation went rapidly downhill from there, as spawns of Kyuss pressed forward, all eager to drip worms over the helpless monk. One even grabbed him by the head and vomited a bunch of the nasty things right into Kesh's mouth. His companions frantically tried to reach him, but the barrier of blades blocked them and seemed to withstand all attempts to remove it's magic. The mohrg lashed out at Kesh again and again as the worms chewed their way through his intelligence. A message spell, previously cast by the monk's wizard friend, allowed Kesh to convey his dying wishes. The others agreed that there was nothing that they could do to save his life, but perhaps they could save him from undeath. The cleric and the barbarian struck almost simultaneously. Killing Kesh with their own hands (well, weapons) and robbing the worms of Kyuss of another conquest just moments before that last bit of Kesh's brain was devoured. The rest of the battered and exhausted party turned and fled for their lives. The party has not faced questions about why SunBurn now has only four members, for they are busy staring in shock at the just revealed visage of the froghemoth. This makes for the fourth notch on my DM's belt during this campaign. The player's previous character succumbed to Zyrxog only a few sessions ago.
It seems as though you're still happy to accept feedback, so I'll repeat what I've said before. The font is disturbingly small. I noticed it immediately and was a little bummed about it. I'm now about halfway through the book and it doesn't bother me anymore, though I am just casually reading it. If I were prepping for a game or in the middle of a game, the font size might become an issue again. However. It's not that big a deal to me, and one of the things that I appreciate most about Pathfinder is that sense of ... space. I can tell the way that the whole thing reads and is laid out that you were aware of your ability to fit more on a page. The adventure is wonderfully 'loose' and relaxed. There is time to give us extra background and color and there's less worry about making every single word adhere to high efficiency standards. In short Pathfinder is even more rich and rewarding to read than Dungeon. I mean, it's wonderful. So while I am not excited about the font, I am VERY excited about Pathfinder and it's content. If it's a choice between one or the other, give me the content all the way. If you can find a happy medium which accommodates all that rich content: awesome! If not, no big deal. I'll even volunteer my time to the Customer Service department to explain why the font continues to be small. ;-) Thanks James, Wes, and especially Sarah!
Worm reflex save...I'd say the virulence of the worm depends on the strength of the spawn, so use their Reflex save but factor a dex of 10. Good suggestions, thank you Yasha0006. That's a great idea with the worm reflex save. I was looking through the MM trying to find a similar critter to model the worm off of and had decided that a tiny centipede was about the same with a +2 reflex save. But your idea allows the worms to scale a bit too which is great. Still, the DC for this first level spell is 18 and that's without the benefit of Fox's Cunning. So the worms don't have much chance anyway. But as Peruhain of Brithondy pointed out to me, the whole point of the spawn is to reproduce. They're not interested in killing anyone, they just want to get worms onto them. So if the spawn are having trouble flinging worms, they may just resort to touch attacks to deposit them. Thanks for the input!
Yes, I feel extremely lucky to be able to tag along, riding the coattails of the greater gaming minds assembled here. Cheers to you all.
*MY* thread which was intended to congratulate Paizo on giving us such a quality product. Yes. Right. The original intent of the thread. It's really hard to ignore the troll waving the red cape in front of my eyes. It makes me see red as I grow angry for such inconsiderate petty behavior. I shall do my best to elevate myself above the reaction of a bull though (from here on out at any rate), and offer something worthwhile. I have managed to read about half of my Pathfinder #1 so far and I'm really quite blown away. The content is wonderful - a really fun and interesting adventure by James Jacobs. I have particularly enjoyed the relaxed pace of the adventure. There is enough space in Pathfinder that they haven't felt the need to cram all the information into a few short pages. Thus there is all sorts of wonderful color and background which really helps spark some fun ideas as a GM for how to run encounters and characters. Awesome stuff. But to continue with the OP's original intent, I must say that the quality of the printing, the paper, the cover, and the binding is really quite excellent. It imbues the product with even greater value. A cheap plastic digital watch may tell time almost as well as an expensive metal watch, but there's something about the material, the heft of the thing, which gives you a sense of the quality within. The magazines were very good, and I'll miss them, but Pathfinder has that same heft as a nice watch. The magazines and the books both tell stories, but Pathfinder is clearly a big step up in quality. Thanks Paizo.
Well said DarkArt. Thanks very much for all of the hard work all of you folks. I know that it must be galling to have your flagship product be late so soon and everything, but really, it's ok. We understand. We're delightfully happy with the amazing quality of Pathfinder and we get that life piles up sometimes. Please please take a couple of days off, get some sleep, whatever. It would be so much worse to have you wonderful people get burnt out than to wait a little extra time for the next book. Thanks again. It's going to be worth the wait.
I wish that Sebastian or Moff Rimmer were here, because they're really good at troll baiting. I just get offended and annoyed. Flynn, please cease and desist. As James Jacobs has said, this is not the place to make political stands. You've been asked nicely. You however, continue to respond with overt rudeness and obstinacy. In no way do I wish to express an opinion about your 'topic', I just ask you to please take your crusade elsewhere. If you choose not to, I can only hope that you get smacked with the ban-hammer for which you seem to be crying out. Please, pipe down.
I was so much happier supporting Mr. Logue when he was a hipster living in Hawaii. But now he's so...East Coast. Blech. I moved all the way out here to get away from the EC. That's a mark against you Logue. Come to the Pacific Northwest where you truly belong... I'll keep your decision in mind as I read through #2 and #3. And don't give me that weak "but I'm employed here in New York" excuse. Where's the determination? Where's the grit?
Port Townsend WA. A little slice of paradise with two minor flaws: not many D&D players. No FLGS. Not enough ultimate frisbee players. Other than that though, it's pretty much perfect.
Hmmm. That's a tough one. Here are a couple of thoughts. Have Ekaym find a scroll of disintegrate, but it's a pretty high caster level check so they are not guaranteed a successful casting of it. If the Apostle gets released, maybe have him surge up into the arena immediately and then make a break for the exit of the arena. There could be some fun masonry collapsing problems for those left behind, and then the mad dash to get to the surface of the arena. Remember that there's no one to man the lift platform, so they need to find the right stairs while dodging guards. The Apostle only has to swallow someone with ranks in fighter, so that could be Auric or maybe some of the private bodyguards on Raknian's staff? Anyway, have the Apostle bolt to the surrounding neighborhoods and begin wreaking havoc. This gives you a little bit of a chase scene and gives the players lots of impetus to bring it down as quickly as possible. It also gives you plenty of wight fodder (though not 18,000) just in case the PCs fail.
Given the dearth of responses to my query, I've decided to throw more words at the attempt in the hopes that more words will garner more attention. You're probably bored with my stilted sentence structure by now though and are on to the next thread. Ah well... Some Paizo friends that I have been consulting outside the messageboards have come up with the following suggestions. For a thrown worm, give it a 50% or 25% chance to hit a non greased spot on the target. If it does hit a greased spot, give the worm a reflex save to see if it sticks anyway. For the touch method of depositing the worm, perhaps give the opponent a +4 to touch AC as the Spawn attempts to force the worm in through the eye slits of your helm or some such. Not sure what to do about the slam attack and deposit worm method. Perhaps a similar treatment to the thrown worm, though maybe the worm would get a bonus to it's reflex save to stick because it is just being placed. Now comes another question: what kind of reflex save would a worm have? Also still wondering about the negative effects of being covered in grease. I hope that my further words prove exciting to you and cause you to feel the itch to respond. ;-)
*Spoilers below* I taught my players to fear the Spawn of Kyuss again last night. We're in the middle of the Champion's belt and they just found the pocket of Kyuss there. We had all sorts of fun with PCs running away from the battle in fear and running back to the battle with their courage returned. The players though, really respect the damage a few spawn can do. I think that it's this healthy respect that mothered the invention of a new use of the grease spell. The wizard (who wears skintight black leather, feels most comfortable when his body is rippling with arcane energy, occasionally deigns to twitch a finger to cast a spell, and seems to be an impersonation of Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter) cast extended grease upon the barbarian and the monk in the party as a way to prevent the worms from sticking to them. I thought that it was quite inventive really. But what am I to do about it? Should this really prevent worms from being deposited/flung? If not 100% of the time, then how do you decide when the worm makes it through? What penalties should a PC suffer for being covered in grease? I started out with the fact that if the barbarian power attacked, he had to make the grease spell reflex save to keep ahold of his greataxe. Anything else? I'd love to reward the players for creativity, but I also feel that this tactic should be a bit risky. Please offer any suggestions to help. Thanks!
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