Definitely Glass Cannon Network. Gatewalkers starts this Thursday!! Tabletop Gold is great from the start. Find the Path is excellent in all rules things always. Check out Hells Rebels. STF Network; another vote for their Under the Table 'Outlaws of Alkenstars' show. Bestow Curse, by Hideous Laughter Productions, I think is their best stuff.
Well, good sir, as I've said before, I'll say it again-great work! I'm using all your rebuilds, and extras, as I trudge through this book. 7 PCs, built for killing giants, and I have decided to skip most of the training level. Even with your variance in creatures to fight, each room being a cave, with only some environment changes as made this into a slog still. My players are having fun, I love using the infernal angle to change some of the difficulty, and make them question 'what is going on here?!', but I'll be looking forward to when they face King Tytarian to end this book. ....
As always, thanks again for your efforts!!
Preach. I think my best friend started it out as a joke, but I can't even tell anymore when he chimes in with 'I don't know what we're doing here.' 'Why are we here again?' "and we want to fight this tower because...why?' He's a college professor, with 6 children, 1 who is very needs dependent. I just ask that you...give a little respect, or silence, if you are just going to be annoying about the adventure. That's why I cut book 5. That was too side tracked for me and my players. We play weekly. For...109 sessions now. And I still have to remind them of plot. I got on another guy a different time; if he's tired, he hangs out quietly on discord audio-and kinda phase out. He'll apologize the next day he realy wasn't with it; well I DON'T get to not be with it. Give me some energy back; you only have yourself to worry about, I'm running for 6 PCs and then doing the adventure; quit making me drag you into the game. wooooooo! GM rant, out and done! LOL
It’s been much easier to just play things by the book at this point still. Fight some jotund trolls, head over to the barbican on the easter, fight some munitions officers, who call upwards to the minotaur to release the gallow dead.
The gallowdead wrapped up the fighters who couldn’t escape, and then the druid/rogue/oracle/arcanist had to deal with them. The best was when the arcanist teleported in front of the door to the bolt ace gunslinger grim horn, who on their initiative, kicked the door open and let loose shooting!! So, they shot from the door to their north, and the gallowdead, who were on their way out anyways, until both groups gathered around the doorway, challenging each other to run in/out at them. The PCs, who have a fighter with an Intimidate Build (I’m outlawing that Cornugon smash feat next time) hit the room, with Stone skin and spirit link to the oracle, and then the fight went on. I made Grimhorn fight with all Mazemaster minotaurs, because why woudn’t a group be here as well? I used some third party minotaur trais/feets to make the battle a bit more interesting, because at this point, nearly everything is a slug fest. Since hobs don’t care for magicians, it’s only alchemists and clerics, and that’s been few and far between for a while. Fights over, they manipulate the Citadel so it can’t send any more troops around, and the group makes it’s way to the main citadel entrance.
Also, I can’t help but make mention; the floors, the walls, the ceiling are so BLACK that light only reflects or shines off its surface as white. The natural lights set up in here shine awkwardly around. IT’s goofy and weird! Unsettling!! But, as the group climbed up from the stables to the war room where Noxil the bugbear is trying to set off a coup, I read A BOOK to my hidden PCs about how this group is nearly pushed over to taking Azaersi out, and stopping this campaign. They’ve suffered so much, lost so much on Golarion (the Realms for me), let’s just keep this home as ours. Would my PCs entreat into talking with them? No…everyone has been an enemy for far too long. Family and close friends have been killed, lost and taken for 181 days (I kept track in my game time). BUT, the invisible arcanist, did do a Mass Suggestion, hitting Noxil and his crew, as wll as some hobs, to go find the General and take her out! So, they cut the numbers down in the room, and attacked. I had to end early that night, and I made the room that the book suggests as a safe place to sleep as a room for the wounded-and NO ONE had ever found the room yet! Only stone cunning dwarves did. So, they entered the hidden medic room, healed, and rested. The last fight was making the way through the halls, and a new guardian was entered into the fight, because I’m getting tired of hobs…and that was inevitable maruts. Onyx stone skinned guardians of the Citadel? YOu betcha! Interesting fight, dividing the group with wall of forces, blinding enemies, dimension dooring around, Awesome blow knocking others around and down, I had fun! Next up, is climbing up the Citadel some more, and finding a siege troop with the firedrake siege weapons to have them turned on the group. And the PC rogue thought he made it up there and back without being detected…heh heh heh….
Within the Vault, I pretty much kept things as the book suggested. With some tweaks. They came through, met the pechs, had the fight right away with Shakhib and his golem. Good little fight. Came into Stone Home, went to fight their way through to Ziguch of the Seventh Facet…and annihilated him. The immortal ooze took longer. BUT my group put Ziguch into the regen tank (I removed the Hob Alchemist here. I couldn’t fathom how this guy was getting in and out as much as he would, operate here, and Ziguch/Ooze be okay with that. So I stopped that). From there, it was on to the 3 Nexus points. My character change to this was that one my PCs was from Longshadow, and his family was taken to the Vault to run the mines at the Nexus point. So, instead of going against the dragon and the Molten nexus that was closest, and I was most prepared for…they took the treasure from Ziguch, and went to the Shard Nexus to buy off the xorn. Which, worked, and surprised the group actually. The one fighter took up the offer to wrestle Cragcrusher, but eventually lost. The Shield Champion Brawler? Made some pretty quick work of him and won the belt! They next pressed on to Flow Nexus. It was here that Kraelos and his Troop was. First off, my PCs took the bridge and guardhouse I created here, and then freed up the people farming and mining, got them moved back, then set a trap for Kraelos and his Troop. That didn’t last long, won handily. When they went up to set the nexus, bwahahaha the GM laughs and smiles as the zarxorin rumbles to life. I did stone one PC in it’s stomach, kept knocking the other fighters off the pinnacle, causing them to climb back up and using the AoE spell effects. It got a little close at one point where I thought I was going to a TPK, until 2 rounds of Heal, and OH, get this! The arcanist narrowly beat the SR, and then I rolled a Nat 1 for the saving throw. The arcanist shared half of all damage down to her with the the zarxorin. And then other party members, and herself, started to harm her. I made a ruling up on the spot of she would have to pass a Will save to cast disintegrate on herself!! Then, they went to the Molten Nexus, because, high level adventurers can teleport all over. They barely made the diplomacy checks, even as I pushed them with the checks. What I did lastly was to have the group pay in tribute was $50K in gold, and the arcanist Staff of Power. Which…they did! Encounter passed. They headed to the Citadel next. Decided to waterbreath and swim there. Fought 2 targothas in the water. NO freedom of movements cast, so the battle was a little bit more edged to the spiked eel snakes for a while, but they eventually won over. With that, the group landed on the Citadel, on the back beach, avoiding the Warwonger of the bridge and the direct door in.
Let’s see….how did I change things… I for one never cared for the war council , and find the traitor in the beginning of Book 6. What changed for me was that….well, my merged campaign of events with Giantslayer saw that initial town of Trunau as the mountain city to retreat to if things went back in Phaendar. Which they did! Seeing as the Heroes were known by Scarvinious, and then again later between the groups searching for them in the woods, the biggest revenge motivator that Scabvistin could have would be to take over Phaendar a secon time. (In my campaign, that event didn’t happen). So, after all the things the Heroes did in the Fangwood with the 3 forts, and then at Longshadow, that really put the I.F. on its heels. So, they went back to damaged Phaendar, and set up the combat events of Book 6. My group’s time line was deep winter trying to retake Phaendar. The druid of the group brought forth a Blizzard, and just shut things down. At 13th level, what’s weather and cold? The group made the SE door, and fought the giants there. Visibility was poor for all, miss chances galore, but they gained the door and the lower part of the town. Druid tried flying around for a while, to spy on the other gates, the other giants, and noticed one large very black raven trying to catch him in his snowy owl form. But the Owl Druid lost sight of the raven. At this point, a patrol Troop came by, battle ensued! Most visibility issues, PCs running around and UTTERLY losing sight of each other (thanks Roll20! I screw with visibility a lot). That fight ended as another troop came forward-this time the raven from above flying before them before Maltagra the horned devil revealed itself! This battle was fun. Lots of Fear, Confusion with spells, and Dimension Door from the devil to get away from the fighters and land amidst the casters staying away. And again, miss chances with EVERY SINGLE ATTACK. ( I eventually skipped the Rawhead fight. Didn’t seem worth it at this point). I should say the first thing that the group did was actually save the trapped humans here. By this point in my campaign, they have 2 onyx shards, raised a smal tower here, and sent the other people to tower set up with Longshadow). Gaining the Tower was easy, the fight with the Obsidian Golems was nasty! A favorite combo of stone shaped stairs, grease, and hungry pit spells with kiting some guardsmen down was fun. I ran the Tower pretty much by the book. Added a few more honor guards in the tower simply for numbers in my group. The disintegration trap did land! That was a healing resource burn! Final battle with scabvistin made a lot of my PCs scratch their heads until they realized it was a callback to Book 1; that’s why my Scabvistin decided to retake and destroy Phaendar! Good fight. The Bard Ettoran Phaerk ended up here instead. I concretely and demonstratively made mention of his playing, and it was round 8 before one my PCs shouted “is there a bard hiding in here?!!!” and I said the music became a mocking trill. I shook my head at my PCs…and kept debuffing them. :D In the end , they won. Kept Phaerk alive after capturing him and actually talked to a prisoner to get info. I forgot my group knew how to do that. But in the end, it became time to head to the Vault of the Onyx Citadel!!!
None. I just didn't want a large wolf to trip a dragon! :D
Just as the title says. 11th level characters, Wolf is a Savage Companion, attacking a Huge Blue Dragon, and yeah, rolls nat 20, Advanced manuever kicks in. It's not a free Trip, or Trip attack, it simply states 'knocks opponent prone.' What rule line did I miss, or overlook, or is this...right? LOL I couldn't find anything that directly disrupted this in 5 minutes, so ...it happened? So, school me-did I miss something obvious?
RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!!! Man....you have a druid in this campaign, and there isn't anything to stop a group. Mind you, I am running a group of 7, they are level 12, which may be a bit early (because I've run some other adventures into this campaign for different encounters)
So how do you win this? By using greater contagion and epidemic spells, and giving everyone in the gristmill, silo, and kitchen the bubonic plague. No magical healing was coming to cure the greater contagion, because Dybellos was killed during a blizzard that locked down the village before this plan went into effect. I was stunned. I figured...you know what...you bet, you guys win. This was enough to put them almost at 20 sabotage points, and well....it's hard to come back from the plague of black death. Just, wow. Onto Skirkatla's tomb.
Awesome! I've got a group just about ready to enter Skirkatla's tomb, which means readying Book 5 on roll 20 with these statted creatures instead!
Thanks for sharing! I randomly think of doing this some time , just do I too can whether the slings and arrows of unintended consequences of choices. I can see, and agree, that playing buffs to scenes instead of tracking rounds for expiring effects removes a headache. I myself like the tracking, because my battles and scenes will hit 12-15 rounds, and I like to see how things can change. But, I also put the spells into the roll 20 initiative tracker, so that removes that problem. But there's a lot here that I too do, or at least some form of it.
If I never, ever have to make my own enemy stat blocks ever again, I'm in for this 100%!
As always, the Order delivered!
Nice! I played in that one too; when I learned that we "missed" a rod piece right away that was on one of the dock supports under water as we came to port, I remember thinking "this is some dumb Gygax nonsense!" Lol oh well. Great job on your guy's parts though!
People, get over this. Paizo cannot legally discuss details of an employee's termination. Even if Paizo is called upon as reference by her next potential employer, they cannot divulge specifics of the termination. "Did she work for you from this date to that date?"
Thank you Dave2 for your first paragraph. That's key information, as someone who has worked on the new hire process, as well as fielding calls on past employees.
Nothing like being indignant or outraged at paying the price for a vendor cup of coffee for an app that will only update and improve. 3 bucks a month subscription? I'd probably say no. If it improves to add in tracking of conditions? Sounds like a purchase well worth making.
I do want to say thanks for some of the finer points of explanations for this mode from everyone here.
I, for one, am all about paid GMs. I'm mad I didn't try for it first! While there is PFS, Adventure League, LCS Lfg, roll 20 and fantasy grounds, there will still be other people who will say "I don't want to go that route." And even with so many resources online to learn a game, that's a big ask to take on that challenge, especially if that person or group learn it's not for them. I had briefly thought about trying it in this last year.I love the game,I love to DM. My own group is a bunch of guys who are all married with kids, like me, and just couldn't make it work as much. I ultimately cost not to because of losing evening time with my own family. But if people want to be treated to a fantasy TTG, and really want someone else to do all the heavy lifting of knowing the rules, teaching the game, and make it enjoyable, and will pay, then have at it I say!
I started playing in 89, and am still playing with all the same friends. Marriages, careers, children all present normal hurdles to get over to get together and play on a weekend afternoon. From 2015-18, we only played 17 times total. I called that 'crap!'and dragged all of us to roll 20 in April of 2019. Since then we've played 43 times at a usual 4+hours each. Oh it took A LOT to get used to. You can't read the room, conversation between people doesn't follow normally and many people just stayed more quiet like in an online meeting. But we've gotten used to it and it's really gotten is so back into the high we love. Going 3 weeks between sessions drives us nuts now! And that's a 1st edition campaign.
Yes! I'm finally at this book! Very excited to run this, as our Shield Champion randomly picked on the map this as his home region, and Ecru his home town. Ended up skipping Radya's Hollow, as he pushed to get to Ecru sooner... Which means the miners at Radya's will die... And I put one of his childhood friends in that mine as well... But that's the results of a sandbox region choice!! We've already seen what happened at Redburrow between the Ironfangs and Hollow Hills people, so he's plenty nervous about his family.
Oh course it's a Kickstarter. They maybe could have done all this, converted an old AP to 2e, spent the same time and quality doing it... And had 11 people buy it. A Kickstarter shows interest and sales are there. Complaining about it's timeliness is both fruitless and frivolous, especially since NOTHING Paizo has ever done would warranta mistrust in their products or delivery of said product.
I will give my thanks. One of my groups has splintered to the winds, but one friend asked about trying play by post. I said only if we lean PF2e. And it's been great. Intuitive, easy to teach, and as you go up in levels, easy to expand upon everything one has already learned. Very pleased with it!
I, for one, am enjoying your 'new' adventures here TK. Very cool!!
I always try to make sure it doesn't become an event that the players regret. 'You quickly overwhelm the rest of the kobolds, who surrender their weapons and beg for their lives.'
Don't ever make taking prisoners as a thing that comes back to bite the group in the ass. Because they never will try it again. I always just make it a non-issue that the event has occurred, and that they still get full experience. A couple of hold persons, one last Non-lethal blow; tie up the enemies, and know that there aren't negative repercussions for doing so. Make it something easy to accomplish, and maybe they'll even come back to the well to do it again.
Just to ask, since I haven't delved into 2e yet; does any armor ever have to get repaired? Any weapons?
You don't fix; you adapt, or leave it behind. I think (some) of the people who like best to know everything, glean all the details, and just be in on all the knowledge...turn to DMing. Some players stick to the moment-'We going to kill the hydra that's threatening the northern trade route? Will do!' Some players plan ahead- 'Keeping that route open means the deals I've made with the spice merchant benefits my clan's movement to larger lands. Are there competitors I should be aware of?' Some players just like the roll of dice - 'Cool, dead hydra! What can we kill next?' I feel sometimes the best way to get a player involved with a large story-like an impersonal AP plan- is that you have to make it personal. Give the player something to latch onto so THEY come back to that story element. Otherwise, it is just a video game, and the lot of you just sit around rolling random numbers of chance. That's boring too. So, find out if you can get the players invested in something important to them, or just live with the game you're playing.
To avoid monotony, I will for sure use all the feats and different alchemical thrown weapons for the giants from the index in GS 1. Also, I really enjoy goblin fire bomb, so that may be around to use again and again and again. :D
I'm another that is all about Pathbuilder 1 and 2e. Paid the money for each, not that the ads were troublesome, but to make sure the dev feels he's supported and will continue on with updating everything.
Oh! Now I'm sad that my PCs unfortunately were unable to save Ron Swanson from death. What a great npc he would have been-for me! And spot on with Houston for Veld;I was even thinking that.
BoVD is an amazing book! I just bought the last 2 humble bundles of Pathfinder stuff, and I've yet to crack the digital cover of those 60 some books for reference or stat blocks. I am a Forgotten Realms junkie and continually cross reference items from the original grey box through the 3.5 campaign guide, and I love the flair of Magic of Faerun for spells and items specific to the setting with a story for each!
I'm also of the mind that should exhibit some sort of DR, but I've kept my changes shall and within current rules. In fact, I've only made it for shields, to show why shields were so needed in history. Whatever AC bonus the shield grants, that's the DR bonus. Enhancements add to that number of DR, but not spells that increase shield bonuses. That's it. Your system looks kinda awesome! Let me know how it turns out. ;-)
*stands up and begins the initial solo slow clap* "Bravo, sir, bravo. Well done." ;D
Read it? I'm even going to like it! ;) There's a lot of good work you put into this, man!
I was this guy too. If it wasn't the Realms or my campaign, why bother? I actually forced myself to really read into the setting of Cheliax since we were running Council of Thieves. Seeing what was cool to work with, I actually apologized to my friend about my reluctance to accept the adventure. Once I was into the lore, oh,I rocked that path!
What do level 20 wizards or warlords know about balancing tax levies or increasing tariffs on goods? What would they do when famine takes all their lands wheat? What to do when farms go fallow when people leave? Why would they want that headache? Sitting on a throne proclaiming yourself ruler of the world like a 60's Dr Doom villain monologue accomplishes nothing. It just gets you poisoned by morning.
But AD&D 2e weapon speed will forever be missed. /s PREACH!
Unfortunately this is just a little too prevalent in ep7.
And I'll be ready to start by then: only got the final episode to finish!
The body of the OP's post makes so much more sense when I actually read it, as opposed to glancing at it and believing it states 'Count me unlikely to convert to 2e.' lol Great post, though!
Everything seems right to me. Discuss your personal play reactions, current and future releases, ideas and wants for future releases, and podcasts - done by or for Paizo-, blogs etc. 17 less pages arguing about armor on the main page is welcome by me.
Loving the reading of this 'adventure.' Thanks for taking the time! Rather see more of posts like this than another 7 page argument about wizards in full plate armor.
I can ONLY run an AP after I've changed, adapted, and rewritten parts of it. For me, I think one small part is that it has to 'flow' in the manner in which I think, collect, and process. Not calling myself a genius or anything, as I mostly run homebrew adventures all the time for the past 28 years. But for me, if the outline I perceive of the book I'm reading makes little sense to me if I start asking questions (Why would that villain do that? How does the PC come to know the adventure background at all? Why would the NPCs presume that an event has 'ended'?) then that's where I start changing things. Giantslayer Book 1 is fun, but honestly, the prescription Stupid Pills one must take to assume why the leader of the guards does what he does in part 3 is ridiculous. So yes, to maybe add onto point, I believe that all Paths need to be seriously gone over and adapted and edited as needed for each table.
Yeesh. They are simply hit points to represent you are a living creature. Any common butcher, baker or candle stick maker in an elven village will have 6hp. Any dwarf walking home from work in the mines with his pals singing "Heigh Ho" has 10hp. That's all. You don't like it? House rule it out. There is nothing to really understand about it.
Dude! You say it's going to take years to get to 1E levels of customization? It took years to get there in the first place! Chill out. Play some more 1e. Expecting 10 years of play at the first release date is asinine.
Hey now...I really dig this! Thanks for sharing this!
Been loving the conversation here, but I'm really looking forward to discussing the inclusion of rules about how to honor my soup oath in 2e.:-D
Being able to one shot an enemy is cool, but what happens when there are a dozen or more lesser HD enemies there? 3 shooting arrows from different walled areas or trees? 1 or 2 flying enemies as well? It rained the night before; ground is difficult terrain? A stone plateau slick from ice? There is a burning building, or someone trapped under a fallen tree, or other natural disasters where innocents are in danger, all the while combat is going on? Even when the encounter comes under your PCs control, another set of enemies enter the battle at round 3, who are not affected from the prior cast spells and are unhurt. No the PCs have to adapt. Being a one hit power monster is fun, but there is only so many feet he can move each round and so many swings. You create a battle environment where a cleric boosts abilities or dampens enemies, the wizard does battlefield control through walls or eliminating distant threats, and/or the group sets up all the pins so the barbarian can knock then all down? Then everyone, you included, wins. Doesn't matter if the group always face rolls the enemies, it's that they have fun setting up their winning ways. If your combats are always on even playing field, without hazards, and there is no difficulty in access to the melee fight? There's boring for everyone, except your one shotting barbarian.
Well, I am getting ready to be able to run first session on April 27th. First campaign my group and I will try with roll20 (we have always been face to face the last 29 years!).
I like entertainment. I buy movies, tv seasons, novels, wings and beers with friends. I bought 5e PH. Never played the game. It's just reading. I've certainly spent more on Subway for work lunches. Dropping the money for pre release for a company I highly enjoy, respect, and appreciate is nothing. I simply want the reading of it. Hopefully I'll play this some day as well! |
