Anytime my download is being sourced from remote3.paizo.com I know it's going to fail. You folks might want to take a look at that server. If it says remote1 I know I will get my download. Remote3 times out.
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Every time I use the map to search, I can't seem to find any PFS in the area. Now, I know this can't be true for Los Angeles, so... Pathfinder DMs, I run a fairly large meetup the first Saturday of every month at Game Empire Pasadena. Games run from 10am until 11pm on the main gameday, we also have several other games that spring up during the week. Our group is approaching 500 members, yet we still do not have Pathfinder support at our meetup... I would like to change this. I know a certain Chelaxian cleric that would love to get some more adventuring done. The venue, Game Empire Pasadena, is a really nice location. Half the space is retail, the other half is filled with 10 game tables and a ton of chairs. If you haven't been to this store yet, it's very much worth checking out. I invite you, if you live nearby, to come and check out our meetup page, visit us at our meetup, or even sign up to run a game at the next event. I am taking submissions now for our August 7th meetup (yeah, horrible timing with GenCon). You can find our site at http://www.meetup.com/pasadena-dnd I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have, and thank you for your time.
You know, it's silly and I know I should have realized it sooner but "Base Save" is not defined anywhere in the Beta pdf that I could find. I know, I know. I should have remembered what it was and I finally figured it out but not until after 20 minutes of searching. But I haven't made a 3.x character in a few years, so I was scratching my head for a bit. Is this defined in the new book? I saw no index in the beta, and I bet with an index I could have figured it out.
I wanted to say that after 2+ years, we are embarking on the last leg, the end game, the dawn of a new age. I feel very likely that the group is going to do well, they have thus far but what a ride it has been. 2-3 more sessions and it will be done and I'll have a sense of a void for a short time. I think that those who took the time and played/ran this story end to end, years from now, will look back on the story with a sense that they played one of the greatest stories in D&D history. If they fail, heck a whole new post-apocolyptic adventure awaits, the "Age of Sun", where the forces of good and light try to make their way into the known world once again, an ancient good and lawfulness, seeking to tip the scales once again in their favor. Players could then be undead minions of Kyuss, seeking to foil this attempt. Oooh, it could even be a d20-modern game... oh the gears do turn. So thank you to Eric Mona, Mike Mearls, Sean Reynolds, Jason Bulmahn, Tito Leati, Wolfgang Baur, Jesse Decker, Richard Pett, Nick Logue, Greg Vaughan, James Jacobs, and everyone at Paizo that worked on the project for a great couple of years of gaming. Next on our plate is the Pathfinder Adventure Path "Second Darkness"!
We will run our first actual Pathfinder Beta game tonight, finally. We have been wrapping up pour 3.5 Age of Worms, but not everyone could make todays game and we are at the point where nobody should miss a session (Wormcrawl fissure about to head into you know who's lair). Players tonight are two who have no interest in 4E, one who I can't gauge but I think really only likes 3.5 and one who has only played 4E. We will be running Hollow's Last Hope, the free RPG day giveaway as it's short and low level... a good start to our gaming in Golarion. It will be interesting to watch things tonight, I am really looking forward to tonights game, especially after reading the rulebook again this past week.
I spilled my water onto the flip mat the other night and it curled apart along one edge of it. I never recall my older flipmat doing this, considering it is used with wet erase. It seems like the edges are not sealed. Is this normal? I thought it was laminated and thus could get wet.
Cosmo/Anyone: I would like to get my remaining transitional (from my Dragon and Dugneon subs) issues of Pathfinder, which will take me through #12 I think. After that, I'd like to cancel. When you folks decide to publish 4E stuff I'll take a look but I have enough campaign material for 3.5 to last me quite some time. Thanks, and best of luck with Pathfinder. I may end up playing it as a player when it comes out but it's not what I am looking to run as a DM. -Festivus
Don't know what happened to my last post, so I will try once more. The postman apparently cannot read. Clearly marked DO NOT BEND I found it folded and put into my mailbox. I would like to know what the replacement cost, plus shipment in a box will be as I plan to march down to the post office tomorrow and complain (and ask for reimbursement for the damaged issue). I have now put a sign out addressed to the postman asking that they not fold them and cram them into the mailbox.
Yep, bent another issue of Pathfinder, even after I complained. Can I get an estimate of what it would cost to have another issue sent to me in a box? I want to file for damages from the USPS so that they can reimburse me rather than you guys. I plan on going down there with my unopened envelope so that I can show the postmaster how they mangle my mail even though there is a place to put DO NOT BEND items. Thanks in advance.
I was reading the Pathfinder Alpha book last night and something stuck me that I didn't like about it. These "progressive" combat feats, where one has to first use dodge before one can use mobility, and then eventually spring attack (or whatever the progression) means keeping track of more stuff at the table. One of the things I don't like about 3.5 currently is there is so much stuff to keep track of. Clerical spells, wizard spells, buffs and ongoing effects. So now, we have to keep track of if we used a particular feat in the prior round or not. Ugh. I can see where this encourages a more realistic scene, but you won't be able to use Spring Attack until round 3 at the soonest. Many combats are done by round 3. Doesn't that seem a bit limiting, given you also had to spend to get the prerequisite feats. I can hear the complaints now about how they can't use their uber feat they spent two earlier feat buys to get every combat. So why would you want this in your game? Edit: Mods, if you want to move this to the PF Alpha section... my blinders were on when I posted. :(
Is a tibbet in feline form subject to polymorph rend from a greater doppelganger? I am thinking yes, but wanted to be sure (since it's a racial feature and not a spell.
Third try, mhy posts aren't appearing for some reason. I am missing Pathfinder #6, when should I worry abou this not arriving? The download section finally worked so at least I can read it.
The group wants to go straight to Greyhawk post TFoE so they can better equip themselves. I'd like for them to still run through Blackwall, but I won't railroad them there. Alustan is going to the Cairn to check it out, the party is going to Greyhawk to buy gear. Alustan urged them to look up Eligos when they get there and take the artifacts thus far uncovered. The group is aware that Alustan's associate Marzena in the Mistmarsh has been getting reports of green worms, and I *think* the party is going to bite on that. But just in case, I might need something else to nudge them out there. Any suggestions are most welcome. The party at the moment is pretending to be friends with Auric's group, while at the same time they have seeded rather nasty rumors about them in Diamond Lake. As a result, Auric and company is headed back to Greyhawk to prepare for the champions belt games. The party has asked to travel with Auric and company, so there should be great conversations on the road to Greyhawk. I way toying with the idea that they could be used as a mechanism to run a side adventure (not that my group needs the exp) of Fiend's Embrace, just as further convincing to head out into the swamp. I'll likely just end up running a bit form HOHR subbing in thieves for doppels (the doppels didn't work the first time I ran this, I wanted to try something new) So, Any suggestions for getting them into the swamp if they don't follow my initial breadcrumb?
Yep, the guy who never gets a crit ever, on his first swing crits on the Faceless One... pulls a card from the Critical Hit Deck and asks me how we figure out the DC for the save or be decapitated. His confirmation roll made the DC like 39 or something, no chance for TFO but I rolled anyhow. I rolled a 7. *Snickt* The head rolls off his shoulders and comes to a stop against the corner of the wall. The iron mask falls off in the process and exposes his face. His body falls to it's knees and then backwards, awkwardly spraying blood in an arc across the ceiling. The Faceless One mouths some words, interpreted as "It's all clear to me now" by one of the players. It will probably will end up as one of the most memorable moments in combats for my group... ever.
What did you use for rewards from Zotzilaha? I'll share what I came up with. They are powerful, but givent hey hadn't seen squat for loot in like two adventures and the next one (Golismora) they were really going to need firepower, I felt ok with this level of items. Also bear in mind my group is level 9-10 right now, behind on experience, so they need every edge they can get. I built some custom rewards for my players to choose from: ===================================================================
Orb of Fire, Lesser spell uses 1 charge (deals 5d8 fire damage on successful range touch, no SR)
50 Charges, Caster Level 15, 20037gp value (Creation cost 9843, 787xp, 20 days) A long wooden staff made from native trees of the isle of dread, intricate carvings of flames wrap around the length of the stave and terminate in a round opening at the top. Three small bumps around the midpoint of the shaft are cleverly worked into the carvings appear to be some sort of fingerhole.
This is a +1 flaming burst greatsword. Once per day, the sword can blast forth a fiery ray at any target within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The ray deals 4d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit.
Hand of Glory (dmg 258) wearing a ring of swift passage that cannot be removed without destroying the hand. The ring permits you to teleport up to 20 feet in any direction with no chance of error. You must have line of sight to target area. You can activate this ability as a part of a move action 5 times per day.
Beholder Crown (mic73) except the following: The crown is made of frozen flames rather than metal stalks. The only rays functional are charm monster, charm person, deep slumber, disintigrate, fear, flesh to stone, slow (all are DC17) For fun, here is where I got all the names for the items: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3088/naheng.html
Ok, so the kobolds have this really nifty weapon called the Flying Talon. Just a few problems with it in the hands of a kobold who tries to use it as their tactics determine. For starters, they don't have Improved Disarm, so if they are up close they will get an AOO (likely they will be 10 feet back) so this isn't much of an issue. Size is an issue however... if using the flying talon in an attempt to disarm a medium sized opponent, the defender is going to get a +4 on their opposed attack roll (basically the kobold gets -4 on the shot here) Additionally, as a light wepon it gets another -4 penalty. Add the +2 bonus for the talon dokicky and the get a total of essentially a -6 on the opposed attack. It's rarely going to work for them unless they are attacking a gnome. Am I reading this all wrong? I love the flavor of it all, and perhaps the kobolds are just that dumb to try to do it but wow, what a poor tactical choice versus something like the trip or a straight out attack (assuming I am thinking this through correctly).
Do you folks want to total number of creatures or the total number of different creatures?
I picked up on this trailing line in the blog today: "If you missed out on the delve, never fear. Many of its chambers were used as inspiration for GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin, which should be hitting your store shelves any day now." (emphasis mine) So it's different than what you folks ran at GenCon? I had thought it would be fun to run the delve as you folks ran it, is that possible with what I have in D2? (as a side note, I haven't had time to read D2 yet... but it looks pretty) Could even be a fun thing to run at hobby shops to get folks interested in your modules.
Mystery of Fire: What would an ordinary goblin wearing chainmail need to roll on its Fortitude save to successfully avoid taking damage during his second hour spent in 114 degree heat? Can someone break it down for me? Here was my (incorrect) answer, where did I go wrong? He needs to roll a 17. Normally, his Fort save is +3, but because he is wearing chainmail he takes a -4 penalty on Fort saves for heat. Since is Fort save is -1. In severe heat (above 110F) you must make a DC15 Fort save every 10 minutes. Since this is his second one, you add +1 to the DC, making the DC16. Therefore, 17 (die roll) -1 (Fort Save) = 16 which would make the save.
After much thought (and prodding from my wife), as much as I really like the quality of the GameMastery books, I really cannot afford to pay cover price plus $4 a month in shipping. I'd like to switch to PDF only subscription if that is an option for the next (J1?) and subsequent modules. I was trying to figure out how to do this on my own but I cannot seem to figure it out. I do wish to keep my Pathfinder subscription as is (at least for the time being). Can someone help me with this? Thanks in advance, -JZ
Just a nitpick, but the maps were all placed at the front of the module, but because there are two pages of them it throws off duplex printing. It should go something like Cover, Map, Title page, bulk of adventure, other map, back cover... right? Because it goes cover, map, map, title page, bulk of adventure, back cover all my page numbers are on the wrong side of the page if I duplex print this.
Is that the level of quality for the PDF or will there be higher resolution available? The dungeon high res stuff seems clearer to me, so I was just curious.
Can you folks change my preorder for D1 - Crown of the Kobold King so that it's the subscription method? I'd like the pdf mentioned in the Blog.
I had printed it out the new stat block format sample page and was looking it over when my 15 month old came over and pointed at the picture of the kobold. I put on a thick russian accent (but with a high squeaky voice too) and said "I am being Kerrdremak" as I cocked my head to the side in a parrot like style. "Kerrdremak always likey pink-skins" My son squealed in delight and thus I think I have found the voice style for the kobolds.
My group of 4 players cleaned up in the lotus dragon den, though I did get the monk to take a dirt nap with Cruncher, he managed to get healed before death occured. In another instance I had a lotus dragon in perfect position to coup-de-gras a player character and he failed his save vs sleep. I played the dragons as well coordinated, with a system of codes telling them where the intruders were at. The group had excellent intel garnered from a captured lotus dragon earlier in the adventure, so they knew about certain areas to be cautious. The party, after cleaning out the den of all the regulars, chickened out when it came to the rhagodessa, probably because of what happened with them on the ship. They decided to exit the dungeon and head back and rest and heal up. This was going to make the fight with Rowyn much easier for them to handle, so I had her animate a number of the dead lotus dragon thieves and stage a ambush with them if they didn't accept the terms of her offer. She waited for them in the training hall, where there would be room to fight and she wouldn't be cramped for space. The group heard her monologue, and decided to turn her down so gut tugger attacked and we went into rounds. Some really poor saves on my part and the fight was going to be a cake walk, so I had her take her gaseous form potion and escape, but tugger and the zombies all went down with ease to the party. Overall, an anticlimactic fight due to the failed saves... but they will encounter her again.
I honestly haven't run many dragons in my lifetime as a DM, the second one I ever got to run was Illthane a few weeks back and I am unsure how well I did with her?. So I would like to solicit tactical suggestions from my fellow gamemasters as to how to make the combats really interesting and challenging. While the party did almost die to her, that was mainly brought out of surprize on her part. As I am reading through the future adventures (such as Kings of the Rift) I can see some rather complex battles coming up.
I'd like to buy the Gamemastery D0 module along with my current order for the D1 module. Can I combine those onto one order and get combined shipping for that?
So the group thinks they have figured out that many things in here are trapped (rightly so), and are extremely cautious. They have decided to cast True Seeing and peer into the room with the rising path. Certainly they will see the third pillar isn't what it seems to be, but what of the illusory wall above. Is that somehow obscured or would it be visible? The room description says that swirling patterns of wind and lightning dance and howl along the walls and ceiling (these I am assuming are not illusional), but do they obscure? My thinking is I'll let them see it, no sense in hiding it, they have blown a 5th level spell they should be rewarded for it's use. I am betting they will try to fly there, which the two in the fog below will likely take exception to.
I was thinking in an incredibly boring meeting this morning about how an organization like the Lotus Dragons could get so far along towards controlling the city when they are just a bunch of rogues for the most part. Wouldn't such a powerful organization have specialists for certain things? I mean, perhaps they have an alchemist in the group, and a cleric, what about some stealthy assassin types? So I decided to come up with a unique list of the 22 members of the Lotus Dragons, albeit many are still just rogues, they do have a couple monks, warriors, scouts, assassins, and even a couple bards. Also, there is some diversity, they are not all humans, some are halflings, dwarves, half orc, orc, and even a lizardfolk and a kobold (married to the cook). I gave each member a name, gender, race, class and "tick", and printed them out on separate character sheets. When I need an encounter with some of them, I can randomly pull from the pile and that is who they will meet. I wanted the organization to feel more alive than just "3 more thieves being thrown at you, use the same tactics you did for the last 3" syndrome. Does anyone think this horribly unbalancing? I do have a slightly larger party, so I don't think it's a huge problem.
With the departure of Dungeon and Dragon, where will we find the next Connor's? Are there other possibilities for exposure via Paizo? Designing monsters is great and all but hardly compares to writing adventures. What about taking submissions for the Gamemastery line?
I have 12 issues of dragon remaining on my subscription.
My transition option of going with the new book states: 12 volumes with free shipping, a $287.88 retail value—plus you get a free PDF of each edition (a $167.88 value)! Subscribers would pay $215.88 to get this many volumes. Yet when I multiply $19.99 x 12 issues I get $239.88. So there is a difference of $48.00 between the two. Also, I want to keep my dragon and dungeon until they stop running (September), so what is the dollar value for my remaining subscriptions at that point in time? Last question, if I deplore the new adventure path books (which seem a bit expensive to me) can I cancel and refund back out after the first issue? If so, what would be the refund amount at that time? I will miss reading Dungeon and Dragon magazines. I hope the new paths are successful for you folks, and thank you for all your work on these magazines. I will read my remaining issues with a little bit of sadness.
While awaiting sufficient players to start off the Savage Tide AP, I was thinking of what we could do in the interim with a much smaller group (3 players). I had a thought to pregen up some Olman characters from Tanaroa and have a mission (perhaps the heroic party who places Taloc's Tear in ancient times) or something more simple like going to collect tar to repair fishing boats. My hope is to accomplish two things: 1. familiarize myself with jungle adventuring more and 2. get the players interested in the story a bit more. Has anyone worked anything up along these lines already?
Greetings, Live in the Los Angeles vicinity? Want to play in the Savage Tide Adventure Path? I will be running this game and have room for 2 or 3 additional players. We have not started it as yet. We meet every other Sunday from 2pm-8pm at my place in Alhambra. Interested parties please contact me for details at my email address: jzack (at) unex.ucla.edu
I was reading through Dungeon 114 trying to get a good feel for the isle. The backdrop article on the Isle of Dread contanis an island encounters table that includes dinosaurs from Dragon 318. Are these dinosaurs reprinted in one of the Dungeon issues or should I go try and buy this back issue? Dinosaurs listed include Diplodoci, Giganotosaurs, Stegosaurs, Pachycephalosaurs, Parasaurolophi, Pteranodons, and Dimetrodons. I am toying with the idea of picking up the X4 - Isle of Dread PDF as well, just for a sense of completeness on the background of the isle. Does anyone want to tell me it's not worth picking up for a few bucks?
That was such a fun creature to run... and the players were terrified. The were still running in terror from it, even when it only had 10 hitpoints left.. which made me laugh at the whole situation. One player was swallowed, cut his way out and then got snagged again and re-swallowed, where he died in the gut of the beast. When I was reading the encounter and the creature I was thinking that there was no way the party was going to survive... and I was almost right. The encounter took most of their resources and one party member perished (it wasn't the rogue, despite the party pleading with her to jump inside the creature). I'll have to bring that creature back in some other adventure... nothing says love like 4 tenticles and a lolling tongue.
S
I was dwelling (perhaps too much) on the Alkilith encounter in Champions Belt. It says that "The Alkilith's first action when it sees trouble is to prepare an action... " So how do you prepare an action outside combat? I ran this as when they threw back the curtain it's action fired off, but I didn't think it legal to prepare an action outside combat rounds. Certainly my players would not be permitted to prepare to shoot an arrow at anything that enters the room. Adventures would take forever and there would never be surprise. Am I just reading too much into this... tell me because in a meeting today I stated that it was 2005 so I might well just be loosing my mind today.
Ok, it got rediculously difficult to run this with any sort of speed, so halfway through I started just making calls on what happened rather than rolling through for all the various NPCs. It would probably have been pull offable in a single game session with more than one person DMing to help with the combats, tracking the buffs, available spells for the various spellcasters... not to mention potions, feats and tricks unique to each combatant. This was a VERY difficult encounter to run... it was not enjoyable in the least by me... when it stopped being fun I changed how it was working and since I knew the PC's were going to win the day anyhow... I made the games fall in their favor. Great in concept, but it was really tough for me to pull off. If it was all computerized it would have been spectactular to watch no doubt. Just one request... please please please don't do that to me again. Please?
I have two young children... children who pass germs to me on a regular basis. So having my second cold in as many months I decided this time I would take it easy and not force myself to work too hard while resting at home. I climbed into bed and hit play on the DVD player and proceeded to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, the extended editions, back to back to back. When extended combat scenes came up, I would dive my nose into the Red Hand of Doom I was currently prepping myself to run, and started drawing all sorts of similarities between the two. It was the best time I have had in a while being sick. I highly recommend you try it next time you are laid up in bed for a few days.
Spoiler warning... they are probably in here for Hall of Harsh Reflections. The group is just about done with HOHR. They have fought hard, and made it all the way to Zyrxog's cathedral of the mind. They are very low on spells and abilities, but do have plenty of healing available to them. The options for the party are: 1. Try to kill Zyrxog... which will most likely be a TPK.
If they try to attack, I know what I will be doing, but if the party flees, I am wondering what the reaction of Zyrxog will be. He's going to be pretty ticked off that this group of adventurers put a serious dent in his political capabilities, with the doppelgangers being dealt with already. Also, if the party doesn't hit this room they lose out on a nice plot hook for the champion's games. Perhaps some sort of attack in the city... would he risk something like that? I am trying to think of how they can learn of Raknian.
Issue 142 arrived at my house with the platic cover partially torn open, and the upper left corner creased and torn along the binding, as well as a tear down the middle of the magazine about halfway across the page from the top. Short of complaining to my postal route carrier about the treatment of magazines is there anything you folks can help me with? It looks worse than many issues that I have used many times at the table. I haven't removed what remains of the plastic cover so that I can show the carrier on Saturday when I am home. Thanks in advance, James Zack
I must say, I have had my eye on the Dragon Compendium for a long time but always seemed to have something else that I needed more urgently. Then at GenCon SoCal I spotted a copy in the auction area and nabbed it for a bargain price! Now that I have it in my hands I can see that I should have just bought it all along at full price, well worth the money. If/when volume 2 comes out you can expect an order from me.
Spoilers
So what would you set the thickness to? 1 inch (Hardness 5/ 10HP)? I am trying to figure out how the bad guys are going to react to this tactic, suggestions welcomed.
So my group has it in their head that they all want to be a piratey type, given the setup of this adventure. That's really great but I smell problems down the road if they have no arcane or divine spellcasters. What sorts of ways could I motivate players to try some of these other classes? One thought I had was to offer up some interesting variations on them, e.g. it's not a cleric, but a witch doctor, or not a wizard but a voodoo shaman. There is a book by Green Ronin called Skull & Bones that looks promsing, but does anyone have any other suggestions for them?
Being in the middle of running Age of Worms, and preparing to run Savage Tide soon, I thought I would adapt my excel spreadsheet that I developed to manage the vast amount of stuff that happens in a adventure path (or any campaign). I am sharing this with anyone who wants it. Take a look, it's mostly self explanitory. Be sure to enter the players current level when entering data as it calculates exp on an individual level and not a party average. http://www.zackfamily.com/excel/Savage%20Tide%20Campaign%20Tracking.xls Edit: Oh, I only track GP in my games, so you might need to fidget it if you want to track all the coin types.
I am running this tonight, and am seeking any advice from any who have run this before. Aside from Zyrog's save for his stun attack being wrong is there any other things I should be looking out for?
So I was talking with the group about possibilities of running it, they all are realyl interested... but they want to try it using evil characters as opposed to the good guys. Is there anything in there that would make this difficult for them (certainly roleplay will be interesting)?
Am I somehow missing the map for the ground floor? I have an unkeyed map on the poster, and that is really neat... except I run online and can't use the poster. I have all the other floors in the downloads. I don't mind freehand drawing it but I was actually expecting a smaller version with room numbers to appear somewhere... magazine or online. Hand drawing those little spikes everywhere will take me some time to accomplish. Does anyone have the poster scanned anywhere that I could snag for use in my online game tonight?
I don't have my magazine with me and I was trying to do the EXP calculations for that encounter. Can anyone tell me what the Ebon Aspect's CR is? Thanks in advance.
I was listening to the Dragon's Landing podcast and they were talking about the Pirates of the Carrabbean: Dead Man's Chest movie and have decided to do a feature with History Dave in a couple weeks about pirates. If you have not listened to their podcast you might want to give them a listen... if for nothing else than this podcast in a couple weeks. http://www.dragonslanding.com
Our game is full up now but please feel free to contact me if you would like.
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