GM_Alex's page

If you feel your players would immediately attack Arazni if they figured out she was Evil or Undead, you could always have her take some extra steps before meeting them. Maybe she grabbed a cultist at some point so she could possess him, and use some Illusion spells to disguise the cultist as herself, and cast Mindblank on the cultist so Divination effects don’t reveal the illusion. A lot of extra steps for her to take, but she probably got bored waiting for the PCs to lift the fog, and she can cast any spells she wants.

Or maybe just GM fiat a Wish spell to make Mindblank work on Necromancy spells that detect Undead as well. Lots of options for a Mythic Lich with lots of time to choose from.

Can anyone tell me how Azaersi uses Weapon Finesse with a Falcata?

GM_Alex wrote:

So by now, we all know that Arazni ascends to full god-hood after her big showdown with TB. I don’t own any 2E books, but did some google-ing, and I couldn’t find anything on this; is there any information on Arazni’s new divine realm?

She's just straight up ded in the AP. Doesn't have any effect on the storyline afterwards as written.

I suppose that as a lich she should reform around her hidden phylactery, so if a DM wants to go in that direction they certainly can.

In my game, I killed her off permanently, no ascension. Or as a helpful nosoi psychopomp said "Poof! Dead!"

I am aware that she’s effectively out of the story in the AP, but by the lore of 2E, she has since arisen to a demigoddess. I was just wondering if there was any information on her divine realm?

So by now, we all know that Arazni ascends to full god-hood after her big showdown with TB. I don’t own any 2E books, but did some google-ing, and I couldn’t find anything on this; is there any information on Arazni’s new divine realm?

1. I believe that would be the events of the PFS scenario Siege of Gallowspire. I don't know the details, but you can buy the scenario here and read a review with some description here.

2. I don't have much to add, but I am planning to replace one of them with a PC from our playthrough of Carrion Crown. A lot of campaigns wrap up in that level range, so you might consider doing the same if you previously had a relevant PC from the area.

Thanks for the info, and that’s a pretty good idea, I’ll look into it!

A couple questions:

1. Is there a PFS scenario, or even just some general context on why the Pathfinder Society has converged around Gallowspire for the events of Book 6? I tried searching for some PFS content tied to Gallowspire, but I couldn’t find anything - I’ve never done anything PFS-related so maybe I just don’t know how to search for that stuff?

2. There are some pretty big deals introduced as NPCs in Part 3. Or, at least, I assume they’re big deals; sure 16th- and 17th-level NPCs are by their very existence big deals, but the book implies that Commander Erga Sweirhall and the leader of Osirion reinforcements, Yesel of Sothis are some big-time heroes. Even the guy who brings the PCs to meet these heroes - Captain of the First Guard Rothos of House Vastille - seems like he’s pretty significant, just by virtue of his lofty title and rank. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a shred of information on any of these NPC’s, not even House Vastille. I can certainly fabricate some resumes for these NPCs if needed, but it just strikes me as odd that Paizo would give the PCs two very high-level NPC allies with no established backgrounds, credentials, or accolades. NPCs beyond level 15 are almost exclusively BBEGs or else load bearing plot devices. So it’s just super weird to me that two of them are just dropped here at the very end as…fodder? Don’t get me wrong - I love that they’re fodder, it makes the stakes all the more monumental - but it does really bother me that these NPCs are just names with no history. I don’t need a dissertation, but not even a single sentence or reference is given to run with. Sorry, it’s just super weird. Am I missing something?

There isn’t exactly a unifying alliance with the creatures in this dungeon - I believe the only strongly allied group are the Nightprowlers and the Nightwalker. Nightwalker has a tenuous alliance with Istravek and has her own priorities and agenda. The Sceaduinars are out of their element and just trying to survive, and also view all living and undead creatures as enemies. Even if a combat spilled into multiple rooms, I wouldn’t run this like a WoW raid, where all mobs blindly attack the PCs to the exclusion of all else; this is an area with multiple factions that would not be eager to jump into combat that already had two groups of non-allies engaged. They’d probably wait and see who wins, and then engage afterward. With that in mind, overhearing a combat a room or two over would may grab their attention, but would likely also just get a “not my problem, not my fight” attitude.

I would introduce the concept of the Lesser Seals if possible, and the Shield of Aroden/Shattered Shield of Arnisant; historical relics with complicated/involved stories that need to be fully understood sooner or later. I’ve found that sitting everyone down for a history lesson kind of deflates a lot of the tension and urgency that the developments that require that context deserves. Having a loose idea of these things beforehand will go a long way to keep the players fully engaged.

Ooh, to that end, I’ll add the Seal Breakers. I just made them a different chapter of the Whispering Way to prevent things from getting too confusing, since they show up so suddenly and add so little to the story. Again, if the players have a preestablished knowledge or even relationship with them, their sudden arrival could be a really cool reveal.

Noticed something peculiar while prepping for Book 5 - full-blooded Orcs are the 4th-most numerous race in the city, even doubling the number of Half-orcs. If they were some fringe, last-place population, it wouldn’t seem so strange to me, but Orcs seem to be a fairly normal sight in Jolizpan. I did some research, but couldn’t find any setting material on it.

I guess what I’m looking for is how to portray these Orcs. Are they in some clustered community that keeps to themselves, so you actually don’t really see them that often, even though the population count makes it SEEM that they’re fairly common? Or are they really just mixed into the city? If the latter, I can’t imagine these are just default Orcs; do they follow different customs or adhere to different spiritual beliefs than Orcs as they’re known in the Inner Sea?

If anyone has a way to summon Luis, then even better!