Fractured DM's page

So my group played this encounter yesterday. Due to some players being unable to attend the party consisted of:-
5th Cavalier (and his horse)
5th Wizard (specializing in crowd control)
4th Ninja
4th NPC Barbarian "Kelda Oxgutter".

After triggering the conjured lions and the Ninja losing most of his blood the party reach Asvig's home.

The Ninja and Wizard make for the roof while the Cavalier and Barbarian moving to opposite doors at the east end of the building.

The combat started with the Wizard dropping Stinking Cloud (the most powerful spell ever!) down the main chimney catching over half of the Asvig's warriors there who proceeded to roll poorly on their saves.
The Cavalier and Barbarian charged in and started carving up. Of Asvig's warriors who could act normally none could hit the Cavalier's high AC and the Barbarian kicked three of them back into the Stinking Cloud using Knockback.

The Wizard used Colour Spray then Grease to take more of them out of the fight and Mirror Image to protect himself, and the Ninja devastated with double sneak attacks.

Finally Asvig and his wife joined the fray but his attacks were mainly ineffectual and though she managed to catch the Ninja with Burning Gaze she was killed by his clever use of Vanishing Trick.

So all in all the Ninja took the most damage, the Barbarian copped two hits and everyone else was unharmed.

From the Obituaries thread it seems no one has died during this encounter. Just curious how this went for everyone else?

FDM

Hey guys two questions;

Are the Alchemist Bombs affected by Spell Resistance? If so what does the Alchemist roll to bypass it?

What is the roll required for magical fire underwater to function to allow the Alchemists to use their bombs underwater?

Thanks
FDM

Second Darkness works really well

** spoiler omitted **

As does Kingmaker

** spoiler omitted **

Someone wants a kiss... Thanks DM_aka_Dudemeister, there great ideas.

My thoughts and take on conversions (Which might echo whats been said but here goes anyway):

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **...

Stewart Perkins if I could kiss you I would! ;-)

Sarlac's Skull....

Actually, I'm half serious here. It starts with a shipwreck (crashland on planet) on a jungle island (jungle planet). It's based around an ancient race/cult trying to revive their half dead god (that's easy to switch up. could even be sith. or serpent sith). There's competing factions (trade federation, alliance, sith, jedi...etc) trying to get to a lost city.

I haven't played farther yet, but I believe once you get to the city you have to explore, delve underground and defend the city. Pretty easy swap. Lots of natives (could be made into an alien race), lots of really big animals and some dinosaurs (rancor monster, anyone?).

Check it out.

Yeah I'm looking at that one at the moment Eel. I have Kingmaker and Carrion Crown but I just don't think they would work. I just finished reading Smugglers Shiv and that could easily work for SW.

Are you using the only true and kosher d6 rules or d20/Saga?

I wish Drejk but most of my players don't like hardcore Star Wars RPG rules were getting Dark Side points actually matters, so we're going for the munchkin friendly SAGA rules.

Hey guys I'm thinking of converting a suitable AP into a Star Wars campaign.
Now the changing encounters to the SW rules doesn't worry me I'm just looking for an AP that would suit a Star Wars campaign.

I guess it would have to be one where the party travels from place to place, something which can easily turned into space travel.

An AP with exotic locales would probably be best and/or one with a plot that would suit a Star Wars campaign.

Has anyone ever done this or can anyone suggest an AP they've played which would suit this idea?

Thanks in advance
FDM

Also pardons. Except for MAYBE a party of all Paladins their is no way they haven't broken laws at this point.

Ok so they succeeded saving the Queen and the young prince and were offered Knighthood by the King.

Only one of the characters refused it, not wanting to be tied down to serving the King and his city.

One of the other characters, a former bandit, was pardoned of past banditry.

I also gave them Magic Item rewards suitable for their level (they're actually light on magic items)

Their first task as Knights is to tame the wilderness North of the city using the adventure W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. If they succeed they will be granted land titles as well. I can't wait until they decide on a name for their new town considering they are level 7 and still haven't come up with a party name.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions
FDM

Title says it all. Would a character gain both the bonuses to attack and damage if they used a bow and arrows that both had Greater Magic Weapon cast on them? ie a +1 GMW bow using +1 GMW Arrow = +2 hit and +2 damage?
Thanks in advance
FDM

So the party have succeeded in rescuing the wife and young son of the King of a local kingdom. The wife and son were assumed killed so naturally the King and his subjects are overjoyed.

What sort of reward would be appropriate for a party of 7th level characters?

Assuming the party, for whatever reason, refuse any knighthoods or land titles, what would be an appropriate monetary or magical reward?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions
FDM

Hey guys, just started a Goblin campaign and the question of having access to the Read Magic spell came up (we have three spellcasters - Sorcerer, Oracle and Summoner).

How does Read Magic work for an illiterate race?
How do Goblin spellcasters use scrolls?
How do Goblin Wizards/Bards/Alchemists spellbooks?

Thanks in advance
FDM

Hi guys I'm running a Goblin campaign and one of the players is playing an Oracle with the Haunted Curse. Now I get the items dropped and retrieve item flaws but I'm not sure how to implement the haunting part of the Curse. Any ideas?

Does anyone have a random table of spooky stuff/sounds/sights?

I assume I'm not supposed use the haunting to aid the character right?

Any suggestions would be appreciated
FDM

Hey guys I need some suggestions. My group should finish the City of Golden Death next session and will probably hit 7th level. After that I really don't know what to run for them so I'm hoping for some suggestions for an awesome modules/adventure/adventure path etc.

Points to consider:
• I'm willing to buy a cool module if need be.
• I own every printed issue of Dungeon Magazine.
• Are any of the APs suitable to start in the middle as opposed to at the start?

I'm just stuck for ideas and would love some recommendations.
Thanks in advance.
FDM

Thanks all for you responses. I really don't want to have to do any work to convert it but at the same time I don't want to have the party walk through the encounters and then back hand Strahd. I'll have to consider if its worth the effort.
I did run the original back in the day for a 1st edition party but that was back when D&D was actually tough! ;-)
FDM

Hey guys I'm thinking of running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft for my Pathfinder group has anyone else run it?

Also just have a couple of questions:-
Will it be too easy or too hard for a party of 6 (6th+7th level) characters which include a Alchemist, Summoner, Barbarian, Wizard, Cleric and Archer Ranger who hates undead?

What is the main difference in the storyline between this version and the original?
I played the original years ago but I haven't read this one completely to see what has changed from a plot POV.

Thanks in advance
FDM

Thanks guys, you've given me a lot of good ideas. I think the key tactic will be to have the ranger move around a lot and be out of reach. I'll have to look up some of these suggestions.

As for some backstory, the party are playing Masks of the Living God. The Ranger is related to the party's Ranger and she is working for the Razmirans as an assassin. So when she makes her Darth Maul-like appearance at the end of the session the party will have a dilemma - how to take her down without killing her since they have reason to believe she may be mind controlled.

Thanks again everyone

FDM

Hey guys I have a party of 5 player characters
- 6th Ranger
- 6th Wizard
- 6th Alchemist
- 6th Summoner
- 4th Barbarian/1st Rogue

The "boss battle" at the end of next session will be them vs an Elven Ranger - Archer inside a church. I want the fight to be a challenge but I know it can be hard when it's one NPC vs a whole party.
I'm hoping you guys can make suggestions on tactics, magic items or even tell me what level the Ranger should be?

Your help would be greatly appreciated and I'll report the outcome the day after the next session.
Thanks in advance
FDM

The scryer can see you. Roll bluff.

Well of course they can, they are casting Scrying. lol

Hey guys the Detect Scrying spell doesn't mention whether the scryer knows that the scry-ee has detected their attempt.

So my question is, are they the scryer aware that the scry-ee has detected their attempt and may even have seen their location (with a successful opposed caster level check?)

Thanks in advance
FDM

My players have just got access to this spell and have a number of enemies that got away, that they are looking for.

What exactlly does this spell reveal? The wording is not very clear.

Does the spell reveal the exact location as in "The BBEG is sitting in the Happy Drunk Tavern on Swan Street in the Merchant District of the city of Montaigne in the Western Kingdoms on the planet of Frangere" or less precise info?

Also what happens if the BBEG leaves the Happy Drunk Tavern? Does the spell continue to reveal their location or must it be cast again?

Thanks in advance
FDM

3. Has anyone ever had a vampire PC in their game as written in the PFBestiary? How did they balance?

I once DMed a party that had a vampire PC in it. Of course it also had a Ghoul Wild Mage, Minotaur Barbarian, Quickling Thief and Drow Cleric. This was back in 2nd edition but I recall the only change we made was removing the level drain ability and making the vampire more like a Nosferatu ie blood drain via bite. As the Vampire had been a former Paladin he preferred to use a sword in battle anyway.

He had all the Vampire powers and I recall that back then creatures of certain HD could hit creatures only hit by magical weapons, +1, +2 etc so this wasn't a problem as they went up in levels, he was reduced to 0 hit points on several occasions and turned into gaseous form until he recovered.

This party quested exclusively in Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms so a lot of "issues" were avoided - sunlight, normal NPCs, etc. It was an awesome campaign as the characters had originally all started normal and got "changed". Only the Drow and Quickling were introduced as is.

I guess it depends on the type of campaign you run because surely they can't be just treated as a "normal" party?

Incorporeal creatures no longer take a 50% miss chance, they simply take 50% damage from all weapons. You do need a magic weapon though to do damage.

Really, where does it say that? Someone better tell the guys at the Pathfinder SRD website which I always thought was the best place for a quick rule clarification.

Hey guys a question came up in game on the weekend and we basically looked to the rulebook for an answer with no luck.

Where does it say that if a spellcaster misses with a Ranged Touch Attack spell that the spell is wasted?

Where does it say of the spellcaster misses with a Touch Attack spell the spell is not expended?

Any help would be appreciated.
FDM

It was a powerful in game effect, we knew it could destroy magic and magic items. We weren't thinking at the time.

For the record we tend to play an old school 1st edition style game where not every magical effect needed an explanation. Which just needed an explanation for the effect on the bag. lol

I think we'll go with Dirty Rat's explanation.
Thanks all
FDM

Just wondering, the text of the Ring of Regeneration seems to indicate that the ring only functions while the character is alive, so does this mean if they drop below negative their CON score they're dead?
I recall in 1st edition it could bring you back to live unless the damage that killed you was acid or fire, is this still the case?
Thanks in advance
FDM

Hey guys, last game my character passed through an effect that disenchanted all magic items no save. I was carrying a Bag of Holding at the time so we looked it up in the Rules and couldn't find any reference to what happens to the contents in such a situation?

Are the contents lost forever?

Are the contents lost forever until you repair the bag if possible?

Do all the contents just spill out?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance
FDM

Fractured DM wrote:

kyrt-ryder wrote:

Well, first off, what point buy are you using? Secondly, with the Rogue's ability to sneak attack undead, that's another thing to consider (keep in mind that in PF, Undead get d8+cha instead of d12+nothing for HP's.)

And thirdly, what 'optimization level' would you say your players have? (I'll note I've left the final level off from Treantmonk's amusing chart, but I SERIOUSLY doubt you'd be using Theoretical Optimization in a published adventure lol.)

** spoiler omitted **...

The characters used the Heroic Point Buy.

The Rogue might not be able to attend the sessions.
My players are considered Level 2. Novice.

Slight problem. There is no heroic point buy. I just checked The D20PFSRD on the subject, and there is a heroic attribute generation, but it's a kind of dice rolling.

(Rather than have to look it up, you could just say the total number of points lol.)

Regardless though, at level 2 I've already made my suggestion above. If that turns out to be increasing the level difference too quickly, you can easily raise it to medium.

Hi kyrt-ryder, sorry I meant High Fantasy. I'll see how the guys go and adjust accordingly. Thanks

Well, first off, what point buy are you using? Secondly, with the Rogue's ability to sneak attack undead, that's another thing to consider (keep in mind that in PF, Undead get d8+cha instead of d12+nothing for HP's.)

And thirdly, what 'optimization level' would you say your players have? (I'll note I've left the final level off from Treantmonk's amusing chart, but I SERIOUSLY doubt you'd be using Theoretical Optimization in a published adventure lol.)

** spoiler omitted **...

The characters used the Heroic Point Buy.

Hi guys, I'm about to run Expedition to Castle Ravenloft for my group. Other than adding CMB/CMD to monsters I'm pretty much going to leave the encounters as is.
My party consists of a Ranger, Barbarian/Rogue, Alchemist, Summoner, Cleric and a Rogue. They are currently 4th level and will probably hit 5th after one more session.
I figure Pathfinder PCs are tougher than 3.5 PCs. Yes, No?
I was wondering are they too low level to undertake this adventure?
Thanks in advance
FDM

I can't recall if this was possible in previous edition but I was wondering if there was a way to cast a spell without someone noticing, such as a Charm Person
FDM

Hey all, thanks for all the feedback. That campaign is taking a break for a short while but when it resumes the party are going to wish they lived underground with the dark elves, illithids and aboleth rather than put up with the constant rain. LOL.
Thanks again.
FDM

Fractured DM wrote:

Well I had the wererats be part of a bigger plot so it wasn't some like random horde of wererats. The party were always going to go after the wererat leader. This just added an urgency to the task as the full moon was just around the corner. They loved it so I think I did the right thing.

On a side rant I'm finding published adventures these days are getting easier than the modules of "ye olden days" I call it the WoW Effect. Anyone who played World of Warcraft when it came out and still plays it now can see how much easier the game has become. Sad really if companies or DMs start doing that with their adventures. I'm not asking for Gygax's Tomb of Horrors but at least give the players are sense of urgency and fear in your games.
Just this weekend my players (4th level characters) faced six shadows and they ran in terror. Eventually they worked out a clever plan to beat them and did but when they then encountered a ghost at the end of the "dungeon" they wisely decided to come back another day.
FDM

I'm just saying there are reasons ;) It could have been just as easily been a matter of them coming back to town and the town cleric(s) being indisposed (pilgrimage or something) and them (the party) going "crap" and providing their own urgency as the assumption was they could get it done (don't assume!). There are a bunch of ways to play with it without altering the rules outright.

I think what you are seeing with the published adventures is the broadening of the audience. Used to be gamers were a pretty niche market. Now you'll see people talking about how their kids are playing the game at 8 years of age and how they had to mellow out some of the situations. If we're talking younger people, harder adventures and more complicated rules are going to put them off a product. They don't usually have the patience or experience with the game. By taking the simplistic route, the game is playable by everyone and if it seems too easy, an experienced player can take it on themselves...

So "broadening of the audience" means dumbing down? I knew it! ;-)

Fractured DM wrote:

Oliver McShade wrote:

Question: Does it rain on them when inside building ?

Question: Will a Remove Curse spell, from a mortal cleric, work on removing the curse, or was the "being that it was linked to" to powerful ?

No. It rains in the vicinity of where ever they are. So if they are inside a castle or down in a dungeon it rains outside. When the curse first took effect it the rain covered a city. Slowly the rain is getting worse, the wind stronger and the thunder is starting to be accompanied by lighting.

I really hate the "You walk into a church and get "Remove Whatever" spell" so I'm thinking they'll need to perform a task or quest to fix this. Recently one of the PCs was infected by a wererat. I made the only option to get cure was to kill the head wererat (which they did), it would be so lame for them to just find a 12th level cleric and wala no more adventure hook IMHO.

FDM

With the artifact that is perfectly fine. With the wererat there are reasons. A DM could just send wave after wave of were creature to infect them which isn't really fair as the ability has a chance of being transferred. At some point they are going to fail and get it, so it should be removable as a "common" threat possible from all those attacks.

Well I had the wererats be part of a bigger plot so it wasn't some like random horde of wererats. The party were always going to go after the wererat leader. This just added an urgency to the task as the full moon was just around the corner. They loved it so I think I did the right thing.

Question: Does it rain on them when inside building ?

Question: Will a Remove Curse spell, from a mortal cleric, work on removing the curse, or was the "being that it was linked to" to powerful ?

No. It rains in the vicinity of where ever they are. So if they are inside a castle or down in a dungeon it rains outside. When the curse first took effect it the rain covered a city. Slowly the rain is getting worse, the wind stronger and the thunder is starting to be accompanied by lighting.

I really hate the "You walk into a church and get "Remove Whatever" spell" so I'm thinking they'll need to perform a task or quest to fix this. Recently one of the PCs was infected by a wererat. I made the only option to get cure was to kill the head wererat (which they did), it would be so lame for them to just find a 12th level cleric and wala no more adventure hook IMHO.

FDM

ruemere wrote:

Sadly, the precipitation alone would account for a major disaster in just a few days - floods, landslides.

For the character personally - death by exposure to low temperature, pneumonia.

In order to avoid the calamities, the character would require constant support - moving around, spells to maintain heat comfort.

Regards,
Ruemere

This is an assumption on my part, but if they destroyed an artifact, the rain is nothing but an annoyance to the character or party.

Your right, they got lucky with the destroying the artifact. They are only 4th level. The artifact was evil and would have never benefited them but would have caused problems. Destroying it just cause the being that it was linked to get a little annoyed and it decided that constant rain would be a long term punishment.

Fractured DM wrote:

Ok so one of my players destroyed an artifact and was cursed with having a perputual thunderstorm occuring in his vacinity, that vacinity being the size of a city.

What effects would being constantly rained upon occur to a party of adventurers? Naturally the rain only happens outside but always above where the cursed PC is.

They've bought themselves a large tent to rest at night on the road but what other devious in-game effects could we come up with when it's constantly raining non-stop.

If I'm not 100% clear feel free to ask questions.
FDM

So, How bad is the Rain ??

It's really heavy rain so one of the other posters mentioned you would get flooding if they stay in one place too long. Not too mention I'm going to start having them roll for pnemonia.

Ok so one of my players destroyed an artifact and was cursed with having a perputual thunderstorm occuring in his vacinity, that vacinity being the size of a city.

What effects would being constantly rained upon occur to a party of adventurers? Naturally the rain only happens outside but always above where the cursed PC is.

They've bought themselves a large tent to rest at night on the road but what other devious in-game effects could we come up with when it's constantly raining non-stop.

If I'm not 100% clear feel free to ask questions.
FDM

Thanks guys, apprently enworld had a PDF of D&D pub games which I'm going to check out if I find them.
Here are the abrreviated rules for the dart game I used.

Bullseye!
A dart throwing where contestants make ranged attacks at the target – a dart board.
Rules: Each player makes 3 attack rolls using the darts supplied.
The outer ring has an AC 10, the next three rings have an AC 12, 15 and 17 and the bullseye AC 20.
Rings are worth points:-
Outer Ring = 1 point
First Inner Ring = 2 points
Second Inner Ring = 3 points
Third Inner Ring = 5 points
Bullseye = 10 points
A natural 20 hits the dart board dead centre and the thrower gets an extra free throw.
In the case of a tie, throwers have a re-match from the next range increment away (-2 to hit).
Players must wager at the beginning and may opt to wager each round of throws.

Not sure if I can post the rules for Spottle even though the Dungeon Magazine they appeared in (#15) is out of print. Basically its like a dice based version of Black Jack.

Hi all I'm looking for games that a party can play in an inn or city or anywhere - dice game, skills games etc.
I have the rules for a typical knife thowing/dart board game
and I even found the rules for Spottle from an old Dungeon magazine.
I'm looking for games that use the existing rules and don't require the purchase of a card deck like Dragon Ante or something like that.
Anyone got any rules handy?
FDM

I would skip the mags, Dragon 319 and dungeon 110 are the only paizo products I ever regret buying, seriously the adventure in dungeon 110 is utterly worthless without being rewritten.

I would advise you to either convert it yourself or maybe take a wonder over to athas.org and see what they did with the 3.5 rules. But I would strong advise you not to waste money on those mags.

As always YMMV

Fair enough, I just have a ton of DarkSun and DarkSun suitable adventures in my collection of Dungeon mags (every issue from #7-#150) and was thinking of running a campaign. I could do without the psionics I guess and just treat them as spell-like powers. Probably need stats for Muls, Half-Giants and Thri-Kreen. The classes were pretty standard right? Only the magic system had a chance to effect the land?

I'll check out athas.org.
Thanks!
FDM

If it is Greyhawk adventures (and I think it is), there seem to be quite a few for sale at amazon.com.

Thanks Feytharn, will grab it from Amazon

Hey guys I'm looking for an old Greyhawk sourcebook that came out while TSR was still running the show (I think). The book was FULL of mage spells from the main Greyhawk wizards (Mordenkainen, Drawmij, Biby, Tenser etc) Each section had spells specific to these mages eg the Bigby spells were mostly Hand or Telekinetic based spells.
Does anyone recall the title of this book and if its still around for purchase?
Thanks in advance
FDM

Looking for rules to run a Pathfinder (or 3.5) Gamma World campaign.
Thanks in advance.
FDM

Looking for rules to run a Pathfinder (or 3.5) Darksun campaign.
Thanks in advance.
FDM

as in Petrified ie Turned to Stone. lol

Last game our Summoner's Eidolon was turned to stone by a Cockatrice and I ruled that that classed as being "slain" thus sending the Eidolon back to its home plane.
So was that the right thing to do?

If so, what happens now?
- Does the Eidolon come back the next day unpetrified?
- Does it need to make the saves each day and if so what happens if it fails the final save?
- Can it even be summoned in that condition?

Please help!
FDM

Hmmm basically high level spells to do the same as a speak with dead spell. My main reason for looking for an alternate version is because of the main restriction with speak with dead - the corpse needs a mouth, something that cremated bodies don't have. Might have to house rule a new version of the spell, maybe one level higher, call it speak with spirit.
Fractured DM

Thanks Howie23, I was thinking an increase of CR 1 or 2 as well. Sounds good to me, thanks!
Fractured DM

Hey guys I want to create a two headed dragon which breaths a different breath weapon from each head say fire and frost. What would be the CR of such a monster if all it had was a second head with a breath weapon?
Thanks in advance
Fractured DM

Hey guys, is there a spell in Pathfinder that allows you to speak with the spirit/soul of someone dead? I don't mean Speak with Dead (which comminicates with the dead person's body and only answers question from when it was alive), I'm talking about a spirit/soul that's gone on to its final rest. Are spirits/souls departed uncontactable even via magic?
Thanks in advance
Fractured DM

Hey all ever since Ravenloft "disappeared" the rules for Lycanthropy have been a little lite. One of my players characters has been afflicted with Lycanthropy and in my campaign world there are two ways to remove it - remove curse from a 12th level cleric or kill the original Lycanthrope that started the bloodline (yeah I'm a big fan of the old Werewolf TV show).
So if he fails to do either he involuntarily turns into a werecreature on the 3 nights of the full moon. He also has no control while changed and doesn't remember much the next day.
My questions are:-
Does he automatically become evil (the werecreature is evil) when he changes or only if he kills someone and eats them?
If he's able to lock himself up for those 3 nights will he eventually be able to control his lycanthrope side or his he always doomed to be a DM control monster when he changes?
Any advice would be great
FDM