Eric Boyd's page

In Wells of Darkness I noticed Echidna "The Mother of Monsters" Is Imprisoned In one of the wells. And It states that Harpies shrieks can be heard eminating from her well heralding a new birth. As you know Echidna with her mate Typhon spawned most of the greek monsters, Neamyian Lion,Hydra and so on. A DM could have lotsa fun wih this since Ahazu let's some of her progeny loose, I was going to make up a few creatures she spawned to play with the PC's. Question James Is Echidna getting congingal visits from Typhon, or just creating these herself?

DAve

My image was that she was already impregnated with countless children by the unnamed father (presumably Typhon) or fathers. It's just a question of when each individual child is released.

As for the progeny, I would encourage the DM to create unique creatures drawing on any aspect of Greek mythology.

--Eric

Search this page for the word "Nimbral".

There are eight posts linked off it.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/main.asp?x=fr/archive2,3

--Eric

So if anyone is curious as to why I included the "lusty girallons", I was faced with the following conundrum: FC1 clearly established that succubi had and could reach the pool to communicate with Shami-Amourae, and yet the plot outline had Demogorgon defending the Well against those who might free her. I figured I'd play on the natural talents of succubi (seduction, no matter how base, ability to assume other forms) to explain how the succubi got past the first ranks of defenders. Now that the girallons are accustomed to the regular exchange of favors (passage for favors), they assume the PCs will offer the same thing.

--Eric

PS If you want the disturbing mental image, think a depraved parody of John Travolta with four arms in the movie Grease, when he's singing "Summer Lovin".

Well I just finished reading issue 148 and overall I was pleased. My favorite adventure was The Automatic Hound lots of good stuff in there. Spinecastle was good too but mainly because of the background stuff. Mainly however I loved Wells of Darkness and was surprised in a good way by the reference to Fall-From-Grace. I would never have thought to see that name again but in was a special treat to see it. Torment was a great game and I miss the days of Black Isle giving us some great roleplaying games. Thanks Paizo for a little nostalgia of the good times.

Glad you liked Wells of Darkness and the Fall-From-Grace reference. Once I decided to include a visit to Red Shroud (who's probably the most heavily referenced Planescape NPC who's not a demon lord), it made sense to include a reference to her daughter.

--Eric

What about Zhentil Keep?

It's been a while since I read the adventures (although I remember enjoying them), but Zhentil Keep is the only major city I can recall that has been recently smacked down by giants (during the Cyrinishad debacle).

Zhentil Keep is also arguably "capitol of the Moonsea".

--Eric

So, for what's it worth, the original idea was that the tooth would be wrapped in a cloth inscribed with the symbol of Ahazu the vestige. If you figure out what it is, this makes it much easier to figure out what to inscribe on the Well of Ahazu to open it up.

--Eric

FWIW, whether to consider imprisoning a creature in Ahazu's prison a "sacrifice" or not is debatable. I'd argue its imprisonment with under a self-serving warden, not sacrifice, as the possibility always exists to rescue the prisoner.

Also note that the Abyss resurrects demon lords. So defeating them is pretty pointless if they are just going to reform after some time. You really need to figure out a way to take them out over the long term. This is one such fashion. In fact, if the PCs kill Demogorgon but don't imprison him, they've arguably been less effective at stopping him than if they do imprison him. (In other words, he'll be back much faster if you "just kill him".)

If you do consider imprisoning a generic creature in Shattered Night a sacrifice, I think its reasonable to consider demons an exception to this general characterization. Giving an incarnation of chaos and evil with no soul to another incarnation of chaos and evil to do further its own ambitions is a long way from the sacrifice of an innocent to defeat a greater evil.

Finally, note that there are solutions that might assuage even the most goody two-shoes paladin. For example, said paladin is likely to be equivalent to a CR 19 creature by the end of the 66 days. At the campaign end, the paladin might offer himself up to Ahazu as the CR 19 "sacrifice" to spare the entire party from being drawn into the Abyss. This might then lead to an epic campaign to "free the paladin by defeating Ahazu once and for all".

Other options include giving the tooth to Ahazu and then recapturing Shami. There's nothing to say that Shami can't be the CR 19 equivalent to herself. This has the effect of gathering the information required without pushing the status quo towards evil.

Just some thoughts.

--Eric

Eric here.

I'm reading your comments (positive and negative) with interest.

I don't see any pending questions or concerns that James hasn't already answered or addressed, but feel free to ask if you do.

--Eric

Just a thought, but could you run "Torrents of Dread" from Dungeon #114, since it's set on the Isle of Dread as well? I seem to recall the level is about right, but I don't remember the plot well enough to know if it would work.

--Eric

Personally, I like the idea we came up with in Power of Faerun to handle heresies. (See the "Heretic of the Faith" feat in the religion chapter.) Basically, for heresies that "make sense within the game world as defined by the DM", you can have an alternate take on the deity at the cost of a feat. This gives you (potentially) different spheres, different favored weapon, different weapon of the deity. It still allows the paladin of Heironeous to differentiate himself from the "heretics" (after all, he can call them heretics), it has in game and out of game consequences, there are real consequences for being a heretic, and the gods remain real. Moreover, it allows for a confusing melting pot of religions, schisms, and heresies that lead to interesting role-playing.

Obviously this solution is not for every game world (or gaming style), but I think it has its merits.

--Eric

Another thought would be to put it in Thesk, "off the beaten path". Perhaps in the mountains away from the Golden Way. Thesk has never been very unified and an individual city could certainly develop its own culture. Moreover, the existence of the Golden Way trade route could account for the influence of eastern architecture and the like.

--Eric

Lamashtu's Cellar

(from the GodsOfPathfinder thread: Lamashtu, Goddess of Monsters and Madness)

Lamashtu's Labyrinth?

--Eric

At the time, I was working on "Wells of Darkness." Just finishing up the edit of Shami-Amourae's stat block and one of the most complicated liches I've ever seen (thanks, Eric!), actually, and then wandered over to the messageboards for a statblock break.

You're welcome! Any time! ;-)

--Eric

Eric Boyd wrote:

I'll certainly join any conversion discussions.

--Eric

Eric, I notice the title of Pathfinder Subscriber or Pathfinder Charter Subscriber is conspicuously missing from your title. I am assuming you will rectify that soon so you can remain the ultimate source of FR conversion for this campaign.

(just giving you a bad time)

Sean Mahoney

:-)

I'll certainly join any conversion discussions.

--Eric

I'm the one who wrote up the Fiend Folio wendigo; that version is mostly drawn from 4 sources mashed together:

Algonquian myth
Algernon Blackwood's awesome short story The Wendigo
Ithaqua, from the Cthulhu Mythos
The movie Ravenous

They're really nifty monsters, truth be told. And by "nifty," of course, I mean "horrifying."

I love the wendigo too. I actually snuck one into Shadowdale, but I don't think you'll recognize the result.

--Eric

Wolf Baur did a pretty good job making sure that "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits" doesnt' clash too much with what's going on in Savage Tide. Which is why when you see Graz'zt and Lolth playing a huge role in one campaign you won't see them playing huge roles in the other, for one thing.

Personally, I think that an early trip to the Abyss would steal the thunder of Savage Tide's end game; it also robs the Savage Tide of its backbone on the Isle of Dread, since running "Demonweb" pretty much replaces the need to run "Here There Be Monsters" through "City of Broken Idols."

My advice: pick one and save the other for later.

My assumption was that the OP was planning on a short EttDP campaign and then starting the ST campaign with new characters from 1st level. I haven't read EttDP yet, so I'll hold off on an answer.

--Eric

Hate to add my name to the list, but no Dungeon #146 for me either.

I did get Dragon #355 today, so I wasn't too disappointed. ;-)

--Eric

One way in this situation to motivate them to go after Artor is Artor's paranoia. Artor can't stand the idea that someone might know he exists. So, even if the PCs are willing to let it drop, Artor might project his own paranoia and convince himself they remain a threat. Then he might start subtly attacking them, hoping to destroy them while remaining unknown.

Just a thought.

--Eric

Thanks for the very good feedback.

I guess the only thing I would have done differently in your situation is to have Dhusarra make the situation completely unbearable for the PCs. The PCs may hate her, but if she escalates sufficiently (and she has no limits) in the harm she inflicts to 3rd parties and if the PCs eventually hit a brick wall in finding her, then she can probably force them in to going after her enemy. (After all, they might go there thinking to declare a truce with Artor and join forces.) If the PCs aren't of good alignment, this is tougher, but you can accomplish the same thing by attacking their friends, relatives of their friends, etc. They can't guard everyone. In addition, Dhusarra tries to pin the blame for her actions on the PCs, making the situation even more uncomfortable for them. In effect, Dhusarra is a trapped in a web of her own making. If the PCs break the web for her, she'll go back to her old relatively harmless role in Undermountain. That's arguably better for Waterdeep. One other thing the adventure is trying to explore is the idea that having a master vampire who exclusively guards "his" city against infiltration by other vampires and tends the populace like a shepherd might actually be better for the city as a whole.

I do think several posters have made a strong case for a new feat or spell or magic item that allows you to move quickly in gaseous form. This should probably be part of any master vampire template (found on WotC website, not used) or PrC, if not a feat.

One additional note. In the original turnover, I had a bit that was cut from the final adventure. In that bit, I speculated that a ghost's magic jar was ill-defined in at least one respect. I stated that you could interpret the rules to say that you get shifted to the ethereal while the ghost takes control of your body. (Arguably, I was actually proposing a variant form of possession.) In effect, in this adventure, a PC could voluntarily submit to possession in order to reach the ethereal plane. The downside of course is that you leave your real body in the control of the ghost. These ghosts use the bodies to march upstairs and attack their hated foes. Therefore, when the PCs "return" to their bodies, they'd find themselves in combat with the household defenders. Just an FYI.

--Eric

Hi,

When I'll start with a somewhat modified Savage Tide campaign (I hope this summer), it will probably be based in FR, since most of the players have some experience with this setting.
However, I agree that the setting isn't that important. I'll probably make it 'FR-light': mainly using the FR map, the info in the conversion notes (to rename the cities, gods, ...), some FR specific details during character generation, ...

On a side note: I love the affiliations presented in the STAP. Have there been affiliations described for FR specific organisations, such as the Harpers?

Hagor

The conversion notes have new Realms-based affiliations. However, they are targeted at the Chultan peninsula region, so no Harpers. (To date, I've done Rundeen, House Se'Sehen, and the Knights of the Flying Hunt, IIRC.)

--Eric

Thanks for all the comments. I'm very glad to get feedback on how it ran.

Regarding the suggested brittleness in Part 1. What exactly did you think the module didn't cover? (I'm asking so I can learn for future adventures.)

If I understand correctly, you didn't think the adventure handled the possibility of the PCs going after Dhusarra's pack. My thought was that the adventure did address this by giving you a set piece location for the lair and clues to find it. How fast the DM dispenses the clues is dependent on the particular running of the module, but my hope was that Dhusarra would avoid the PCs long enough (obscure lair, rather nasty way of sending messages) that the PCs get hooked into at least the Dungeon of the Crypt. Once they kill Dhusarra, they then have sufficient motivation to kill off the "false" villain of part 2 and the true villain of part 3. Dhusarra might even survive into part 2 or part 3. In other words, it's possible Dhusarra dies AFTER her foe.

Can you give me more insights into the issues for your group?

--Eric

I'm trying to run the AoW campain in a FR setting. The add on for this website says the ebon triad consists of bringing back these 3 gods Bhall, Myrkul, and Bane. Only probelm is that Bane isn't dead anymore and the story takes place after he comes back. So I'm not sure what to do about this. I want to use Bane because those gods go together given there history. Please help.

Like KEJR says, Bane's return is "victory #1 of 3" for the Ebon Triad. I wrote the conversion notes knowing full well that Bane is back.

--Eric

Where would Scuttlecove be in FR? Which city should i use?

I haven't written the adventure path conversion notes for Serpents of Scuttlecove yet, in part because I am still debating what to do.

James is the editor of course, so he gets the final say.

In the interest of "doing the work for the DM", I was thinking of suggesting Scuttlecove == Mhairhetel (see Serpent Kingdoms) and giving conversion notes. In a sidebar I'd say that an equally valid (if not better) placement for Scuttlecove would be on one of the islands between the Isle of Dread and Zakhara, and then no conversion is necessary. (See the map in the FRCS.) It really depends whether you want to tie the campaign back to the fringe of the "Realms proper" or if you really want to stay with the fantastic feel of the campaign. Either way, you're about to head into the Abyss, so you'll be "off the map" for the rest of the campaign.

My reasoning for suggesting Mhairhetel is that it is one of the 4 established "pirate ports" in the Outer Sea--Skaug in the Nelathaner, Narubel on the Shining Sea, Mhairhetel between the Mhair Jungles and Halruaa, and the Bay of Pirates between Halruaa and the Kethid Swamp. Of the four, Mhairhetel has the strongest yuan-ti influence, and is geographically the best positioned.

--Eric

Oh, THERE it is!

I didn't have a realms map that went that far south - no wonder I couldn't find the IoD!

Thanks very much for doing this!

There's a map that goes this far south in the FRCS [3e], but this is a much nicer map.

--Eric

I'm pretty crazy about playing the Realms so I'm working on converting for my campaign. I'd say that the only really big change is the journey from Tashluta (Sasserine) to the Isle of Dread.

I just put together a map of the Sea Wyvern's journey to the Isle of Dread with the conversioned encounters on it. If anyone wants to use this map, go for it. Here is a link.

EDIT: Updated the map to include scale.

This is great. Thanks for doing this.

Have you also put together a table of how many days between each encounter?

--Eric

Please add me to the list as well.

ericlboyd at aol dot com

--Eric

I am currently a player in this (it's being used as a side adventure in SCAP). It's a little hard for me to comment because I don't know to what extent the GM has adapted it for my PCs, but I can give a general impression.

Most of the issues you raise are addressed in the module, but if you're a player I don't think I can effectively address them here. Feel free to have your DM start a different thread or email me offline.

ericlboyd at aol dot com

--Eric

I normally run a realms capaign, but just started running Savage Tide. I'm not going to bother converting it. For the most part they will be on the isle of dread, the Abyss or Sasserine. What's the point in doing any converstion.

While I understand your point, I look at the Savage Tide as an excellent chance to explore playing characters from cultures not normally played in Realms campaigns. For example, play a Halruaan wizard or Dambrathi half-drow or Tashalan tainted one or Lapaliiyan civic cleric or Knight of the Flying Hunt. These are all part of the Realms, yet most campaigns rarely venture this far south.

--Eric

Good question. The official answer is up to the editor, but I would probably treat it as a druid of the same character level.

--Eric

Greetings,

I'm just getting around to noticing this, but my collection of Dragon magazines is missing issues #1-#34, #36-38, and #40. While I wasn't subscribed back in the 70s, I was hoping there was something you could do.

:-)

--Eric

So...my question to you is: Do you want to see more Maps of Mystery that connect to previous installments, or do you prefer maps that have no relationship with anything else?

I like the connected maps. It gives me more options, rather than less, to expand the size of an area of exploration, and doesn't hurt anything.

Can I make a request? When you're done with this series, could you get Paizo to bundle the linked maps into a single, standalone PDF?

Thanks,

--Eric

I have been reading the conversion notes and I noticed that they state the "prominent role of the Church of Kord is replaced by the Church of Talona". The next sentence about the lesser faiths states that Tempus should be used for Kord. I wasn't real familiar with Talona so I looked her up in Faiths and Pantheons and she doesn't seem like a good fit for Kord at all. Is it me or does something seem wrong here?

In the published lore (specifically, Faiths & Avatars [Talona], Powers & Pantheons [Savras], and Serpent Kingdoms), I made the two major churches of Tashluta to be the Church of Talona and the Church of Savras. For the core Sasserine, one of the core churches is the Church of Kord. The obvious conversion for Kord is Tempus, but I didn't want to lose the Realms flavor entirely. Therefore, while the church of Kord is replaced by the church of Tempus, the second "prominent slot" among the churches is the Church of Talona, not the Church of Kord/Tempus.

The other deity I have not heard of is Anachtyr, which appears to be a southern aspect of Tyr unless these are two different deities. If I am reading correctly the southern aspect of Tyr is not an additional deity just a description of Anachtyr. I get confused easily I guess.

Anachtyr is a southern (specifically Calishite) aspect of Tyr.

--Eric

James Jacobs wrote:

I have the issue!

How come you get it so quickly? ;-)

I hear he hangs around the loading dock and steals a copy off the truck.

--Eric

I've made my peace with sexy halflings, but when you put a gnome in a cocktail dress, you've gone too far.

Guilty as charged! ;-)

--Eric

endur wrote:

Regarding Sunnis the Princess of Good Earth Elementals, is there also a Prince of Earth Elementals named Entemoch? Siege of Darkness (p. 138) mentions Entemoch as a Prince of Earth Elementals (and Ogremoch as the evil elemental prince).

No, there isn't. Most likely Salvatore got his wired crossed somewhere, or just made it up for the novel. Likely he was aware of Ogremoch from 1e, but had never heard of Sunnis before (and when was the novel published, because it may have been before Sunnis was ever mentioned, in Salvatore's defense).

There's no Entemoch, but Kossuth is the overarching lord of all elemental earth creatures (and dwarfs the influence of both Sunnis and Ogremoch; he's pretty much a living manifestation of the plane of elemental earth as a whole).

Kossuth is fire. You're thinking of Grumbar. I'd simply assume that Entemoch is the Realms name for Sunnis.

--Eric

Hi James!

Thanks for this update, but could you quickly let us DM's know where exactly the Isle of Dread will be in Eberron (and FR if possible)? I'm fairly certain I can re-arrange the encounters for Sea Wyvern's Wake to match whatever the route turns out to be, but I'm running the adventure this weekend so having the destination ASAP would be extremely helpful.

Thanks a lot!

In FR, assuming you go with Tashluta/Sasserine, the Sea Wyvern heads west around the horn of the Jungles of Chult and then due south into open ocean. Look at the crude map of the world in FRCS and you'll see where they are headed.

--Eric

Can anybody help me? I'm running a campaign in the dalelands region of the forgotten realms, using Dragon adventures. I'm currently running 'Within the circle', which will be followed by 'The raiders of Galath's Roost'. This should take the characters up to about 3rd level, and I am looking for some advise on what to run after this.

I'm looking for adventures for roughly 3rd level characters set in the Dalelands, but sorrounding areas, such as Cormyr or Sembia will also suffice. Any advise on what to run later in my campaign would also be great.

Skip Williams has written 3 adventures in the Dalelands. After Galath's Roost, there was one set in Mistledale for 8th level IIRC, and one set in Archendale.

There are some old 1e and 2e adventures as well ... there was one about a banshee set near Myth Drannor. There was one involving some hags and tasloi set near Lake Sember as well.

Outside of Dungeon, you might look at the old Draconomicon [1e], for an adventure set between Shadowdale and Mistledale.

There's an adventure I wrote set in Essembra in Serpent Kingdoms.

There's an adventure locale, the Wyvernstones, that's either in Faith & Pantheons or in the web enhancement that I wrote.

--Eric

Glad it's helpful. Feel free to ask questions.

--Eric

At U-Con this weekend, they were there with a bunch of sample ships (not the Ravaged Pride, but others). All I can say is: Wow!

--Eric

I'm a little unclear about the conversion notes for the temple of Kord in the Champion's District. At one point it mentions that Talona should be substituted, since their is friction between her church and Savras (Wee Jas), but Talona seems an unlikely choice for a bunch of gladiators and soldiers to worship.

The Church of Tempus replaces the Church of Kord.

However, the two "prominent faiths" in Tashluta (Sasserine) are Savras and Talona, as discussed in the write-up of Tashluta in Serpent Kingdoms. In effect, the Church of Tempus does not play the same role in Tashluta as the Church of Kord does in Sasserine. It is replaced by the Church of Talona.

Is that clearer?

--Eric

Eric,

I am curious to hear some of your thinking, if you care to share it, as to why you chose Tashluta to sub for Sasserine in the FR. Was it mostly because of its location in relation to the Chultan peninsula and therefor would make an easy sub for The Sea Wyvern's Wake as you travel around a jungle peninsula?

I am reading through the information on the Tashalar and Tashluta now and so far nothing has jumped out at me as a great location. This isn't to say it couldn't be, I am just curious what the thinking was that went into it and what sort of criteria you used in choosing a location.

Regardless, I am very appreciative of the work and thank you for once again putting out great stuff!!!

Sean Mahoney

Hi Sean,

A couple of reasons come to mind, in no particular order.

1) I like to maintain consistency between APs in the "official conversions", and I had suggested that Sasserine was Tashluta before (having placed Cauldron in the mountains between the Tashalar and Samarach).

2) Sasserine and Tashluta are both independent port cities on southern coasts near jungles with a history having been conquered by a northern country (Hold of Sea Princes / Calimshan).

3) The characteristics of a jungle-coast-hugging trip in the early stages of a trip to the Isle of Dread work equally well for Sasserine and Tashluta.

--Eric

So, is there any further word regarding that official Dungeon conversion to FR. What you lads have posted here so far is top notch, but it would be nice to here an "official" word as to the conversion.

Do what works best for your campaign.

In the conversion notes I've given to Paizo, Sassarine == Tashluta. The Sea Wyvern's path is west around the horn of the Jungle of Chult and then south across the Great Sea.

--Eric

In 3rd Edition, they were converted in the Fiend Folio.

And I think they are very, very cool ... can't let that Pett fellow have all the fun.

--Eric

Of special note for those of you who use superscript "B" for bonus feats you can eliminate the space between it and the feat it goes with and save yourself one whole word!

Also try not to use too many multi-word spells, feats or magical items.

Remember: A word saved is a word earned!
GGG

PS Truth be told, I only tolerated Raymond.

Personally, I've found replacing spaces with dashes helps as well. If you want to estimate the net savings, just look at the paragraph total with the Word count feature and treat that as your word count total.

--Eric

Interesting, indeed!
So far I thought that there was some top secret document at Paizo/ WotC stating by which rules some not yet reveiled D&D things like "Creation of Demon Lords" work.

I wasn't aware of the fact that even WotC authours don't have access to all the information! Or is that top secret document about demon lord creation just on your mind, James? ;-)

Greetings,
Günther

A big part of designing is reverse engineering design philosophies and applying them to a new location. Likewise, it's important to know the breadth of rules well enough to see opportunities to reuse existing rules rather than create new ones.

--Eric

Again, I apologize for the converson notes not being available.

Plus, it's more my fault than James. I was slow and blew the window.

My apologies,

--Eric

I gave him Chaos and Evil because all demon lords grant those two domains, leaving me 2 more to give him without breaking the unspoken rule that demon lords grant no more than 4 domains. He gets the Entropy domain because that domain's tied to the dawning of the multiverse and Dagon was there to see it, and he gets the Water domain becasue he's associated with water.

Ocean'd be a fine domain to give him in place of water. Blackwater might work too... but if I recall correctly, there's a lot of undead stuff associated with that domain? Dagon's not as heavy into the undead scene, even if they are aquaitc.

Anyway, giving him more than one water-themed domain short-changes his other roles, I think.

Another domain one might give him in place of Entropy could be divinaiton, or prophecy, or something like that.

Interesting. Thanks. I figured you had some unwritten rules, which I was trying to figure out. ;-)

Blackwater is a "darkened depths" / "undead" related domain. The former aspect of the domain definitely applies. The latter is a much weaker tie. However, I figured that Dagon probably taught Demogorgon the secret of creating death knights, so that might suggest a small undeath tie.

--Eric

James,

Just curious why you chose the domains you did for Dagon? Did you consider giving him access to the Blackwater or Ocean domains from Stormwrack, at least for those who have access to that source?

To serve as a strawman, I might have picked Blackwater (SW), Entropy (FC1), Ocean (SW), and Water.

Just curious,

--Eric

Just curious as to which deity people are exchanging for Wee Jas in a realms adaptation of STAP? No realms god seems to have a similar set of portfolios or have a comparable character so I’ve hit a dead end.

One thing I am leaning towards is just making some kind of localized celestial paragon (or maybe even a fiendish patron) with similarities to Wee Jas but apart from that I’m quite stuck.

I’m interested to find out how others have remedied this. :)

In the Age of Worms adventure path conversion, I suggested a local cult, the Cult of Ascended Lovers, mixing worship of Kelemvor and the previous aspect of Mystra.

For Tashluta, I suggested Savras, more for the role he plays in the Tashalar and less for the close correspondence of the match. However, a southern church of Savras, already and obscure god, can easily be portrayed with a darker aspect, much like the Church of Wee Jas.

--Eric