Generic Villain's page

Hey all. So I'm designing a dungeon where the PCs need to acquire 3 coins to unlock the final door. The silver coin was already snatched up by a rival, so will fight the PCs. The gold coin is attained by solving a cipher puzzle. I'm having trouble thinking of how to challenge the PCs with the bronze coin though.

I have a few thoughts.

-The coin is cursed. As long as it is carried, the holder suffers penalties. I may even have it heat up, forcing them to rush to deposit it before it burns them alive.
-The room is filled with bronze coins. Thousands of them. Only one is the real deal. The problem here is, how would the PCs find the right one? And even then, the only "threat" here is spending a lot of time sifting through coins.

Thanks for any suggestions.

And thanks to AI, this is how I envision it:

Tower Image

Hmm. Looks like my initial links died? I'll try again:

First Floor

Second Floor

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Fourth Floor

Fifth Floor

That's absolutely stunning work!

I love how you've worked with hexagonal/octagonal rooms, and made the rooms flow so well.

Thank you! The basic shape is meant to evoke a pagoda, but one that is stylized and somehow off. I have a long document (90+ pages) describing it - stuff like magical defenses/traps, room descriptions, treasures, guardians, etc. This is how I described its appearance:

"Rising nearly 100 feet into the sky, the tower tapers somewhat as it ascends, narrowing towards its peak. The architecture is almost pagoda-like in form, oddly angular in a way that creates a sense of tension. Though it exudes an undeniable air of malevolence, there is also beauty in its haunting symmetry."

I love making weird, non-standard buildings like this.

Hey wow, that's beautiful. Nice work!

Thank you friend, I really appreciate that. Nothing gets me in a flow state like cartography. Time allowing, I can easily spend 12 hours nonstop working on maps. It's therapeutic (except for the part where I don't take breaks and often don't eat, but meh).

So I finished this the other day. It only took me 10 years. Made the first version in 2015 in an earlier version of Campaign Cartographer, and have been sprucing it up ever since. This tower is located high on a lonely mountain peak and belongs to whatever magical BBEG needs it - currently, that happens to be the grandmaster of the Night Heralds. Some fun notes: despite it's massive size, the guy lives here by himself with only golems, undead, and bound outsiders as guardians. He has a banquet hall where he takes his meals alone (room 2); a world class kitchen that is completely bare because all his food is produced magically (room 11); a posh sitting room that he never utilizes (room 20); multiple guest rooms that almost never get used because he's too paranoid to let anyone into his sanctum (the only exception is his fanatically loyal bodyguard); a museum where he keeps his priceless hoard of relics and artifacts that he looks at once or twice a year when he's bored (room 21); and so forth. It's a lavish palace that symbolizes how empty the man's life truly is.

The only room he really values is his sanctum on the fourth floor (room 35). There's a plush carpet with a mountain of pillows where he can sit and indulge in a wide range of narcotics, whilst staring up at the ceiling which, thanks to illusion magic, looks like a starry night sky with a shimmering aurora. Magical gamelan music fills the air.

First Floor

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Fifth Floor

If I'm understanding you correctly then here's the best song like that I can think of:

Traci Lords - Control (Juno Reactor Instrumental)

And I should never pass up an opportunity to pitch my OWN music:

Slash Part 2

Oh man, the MK soundtrack - what an absolute gem that was. I remember listening to that CD as a wee Generic Villain on repeat until it drove my Mom mad. Great advice!

Your song is good too, but it's not quite dark enough for what I'm going for. It's actually quite hard to explain what I'm going for, actually. I guess it's like porn - hard to define, but you know it when you see (hear) it. Still, thanks for sharing.

(And speaking of MK - now I'm also listening to the Killer Instinct - Killer Cuts CD that came with the SNES game. What a treasure).

Hi hi hi. So I'm putting together a playlist for a campaign wherein the PCs fight bad spooky aliens (Dominion of the Black, to be specific). I'm going for a certain vibe: aspects of dark snythwave, prog rock, etc. I'm not good at describing music genres honestly. Here's what I have:

Assimilation Decks

Black Citadel

The Living End v2

Canyons

Devour

Weird stuff. But I need more. Anyone have any cool, weird, creepy Ima-fighting-aliens music suggestions? Doesn't have to be like the previous 4 songs. I love variety. Needs to get the blood pumping though.

1. I would install what you've got first--which is a lot--and see what you have to work with before getting anything else. You've already got a ton of assets between all of those things, and you might want to see what you like and what you use before paying for any more.

2. When it's time to look at other stuff, what kind of maps do you want to make most?

Yeah that's good advice. I tend to go a bit overboard with stuff like this. That said.

My favorite maps to make are European/Gilded Age-type mansions. So nice furnishings, rugs, statues, fire places, staircases, the like. I also have a sprawling fortress inhabited by evil wizard-types (Night Herald cultists, to be specific). So alchemy-themed stuff, magical doodads, ominous/scary fare, astronomical devices, bookshelves.

Would either of you helpful folk have any recommendations on additional asset packs that are really useful? Like you Aberzombie, I love having a wide variety of stairs. But really, I'm an omnivore when it comes to symbols - I'll take anything if it's well-designed and appealing.

Right now I have C3+, Character Artist, City Designer, Dungeon Designer 3, Perspectives 3, Symbol Set 1, Symbol Set 2, and Symbol Set 4 - Dungeons of Schley. I believe there are also things called Annuals that I can buy? I'm not sure how those work, I haven't had the time to research them yet. I haven't even had the time to install the thing for that matter, but soon.

Nice, Generic Villain! Hope you share some of the stuff you come up with in the gamer talk or homebrew forums. It does take awhile to install all those exes but fortunately I recall last time I reinstalled on a newer computer it didn't take too long.

Perspectives 3 I think is the isometric mapping tool. So if you want to make something a little more 3d looking, it should be handy. I've never used it but I've seen really nice stuff people have made with it.

I may just do that. My old CC2 maps are embarrassing, if only because of the sheer ugliness of being 90% black lines. After I install CC3, I plan on remaking a few of my favorite maps. Those might be worth posting.

Thanks for the info on Perspectives. I could see that being neat for designing handouts and such.

I've enhanced my CC3+ a lot. The City Designer. The Dungeon Designer. And bought most of the symbol add-ons and several Annuals. Between those, I typically have most of the stuff I need.

I have, on occasion, done searches for certain symbols (especially stairs, which CC3 has been kind of weak on) so I know there's stuff out there. Specific websites I don't know, other than the ProFantasy message forums where people sometimes post links to stuff.

I was looking at the Annuals. I'm going to install what I have now and see how satisfied I am, but can definitely see myself springing for future additions. Especially if they're stingy with stairs. I like having a wide range of stair options.

I know there are ways to turn stuff into symbols, but my old-man brain never was conducive to learning such esoteric sorcery.

I assure you it's not your old-man brain. Way back when I still used CC2, I did indeed figure out how to make custom symbols, but he process with utterly convoluted. Also the stuff I made was nothing compared to what the professionals produced. And now, 10+ years later, I have no intention of trying to re-learn that process. I'll just throw money at pre-made assets instead, thank you very much.

I also have no experience with DungeonDraft. Looking at it very quickly the takeaway is that it appears to produce some nice battlemap style maps but is not easily expandable to other types of fantasy maps (e.g., cities, overland). Looks like it has a great asset library.

I have been a CC3+ (and its predecessors) user for many, many years and have been very happy with it. What it can do, compared to CC2, is much, much nicer looking stuff and if you're already used to figuring out how to use CC2 you can use CC3. Because it is a fantasy mapper UI over CAD, it still can take a lot of steps and a lot of frustration and shenanigans to get exactly what you want, especially if it's something complex, but nonetheless you can also really do anything you want with it and once you get the feel for it (as you are aware) it is great. Tutorials abound on their site and on YouTube. I'm also just a big fan of Profantasy as a company--they have very responsive customer service and have never tried to screw their customers over with weird DRM or licensing shenanigans (I bought CC3 and was able to upgrade to CC3+ for free when it first came out). You really get what you pay for with them in my experience and I am happy to throw some money at them when I am able. (Which is not to say that you should, per se, just that I would and I don't say that lightly.)

At the risk of continuing to sound like a commercial (I am really not, I swear), if you're doing primarily battlemaps I would definitely pay for the additional Dungeon Designer add on, as well as the Dungeons of Schley Symbol Set (which is $25). Right now CC3 plus the City Designer and Dungeon Designer addons are on sale for $74, or slightly more than the cost of a good high end video game. There are additional assets you can purchase (symbol sets and various things in their Cartographer's Annuals). City Designer is also super amazing.

As for free assets, Profantasy often gives free...

Many thanks to you wise DeathQauker, that was most informative. I am intimately familiar with CC2, and am glad that my hard-fought knowledge will carry over. I actually went ahead and bought the bundle including CC3+, Character Artist (don't think I'll ever use it, but hey), City Designer, Dungeon Designer 3, Perspectives 3 (huh?), Symbol Set 1, and Symbol Set 2. I also sprang for Symbol Set 4 - Dungeons of Schley, because it looked amazing.

Thanks for the free asset link, it's much obliged.

Now I just have to install this monstrosity. Between all the add-ons, I count ~20 different .exe files I'll need to run. But hey I grew up on CC, and if it's half as good as it looks and everyone says, that's a small price to pay. (That and the $175, but who's counting).

Oh, a second question if you don't mind my asking! Do you have any go-to sites for CC3+ assets? DungeonDraft has the Forgotten Adventures site for example, and I could always Google CC3+ assets, but since you've been using this software for a while, do you have any sound advice? I like to have many, many assets. 50 desks, 100 chairs, all sorts of statues, multiple floor/door/window types, magic doodads, toilet/bath fixtures, you name it. So if there's a really good source for my 3rd-party assets, I'd very much appreciate finding them.

Thank you Ser Zombie. Right now I'm leaning heavily towards CC3 because a) I already have a good handle on it, and b) it looks like I can do much more with it. For example, I like doing cutaway maps - a buddy who likes DungeonDraft told me that that program may not be a good option for cutaways. Also, DD has a long load time when you have a lot of custom assets loaded (I do).

Hello fellow gamers. I started making custom maps with Campaign Cartographer 2, and while it had a steep learning curve, and was a tad ugly, it got the job done. I stepped away from cartography for a while, but am ready to dive back in. I'm looking for thoughts, suggestions, and opinions on what cartography software is "best." I've narrowed it down to DungeonDraft and Campaign Cartographer 3+.

I've played around a bit with DD, and also have ample experience with the earlier iteration of CC. I'm not concerned with learning curves - this is an obsession of mine, and I will spend an unhealthy amount of time working on whatever software I end up going with. At first glance, DD looks to be a simpler program to use and gets the job done, while CC 3+ seems to be more time-intensive and expensive, but also produces more visually pleasing maps. I'm at a crossroads.

What do you fine folk think about these two options? Pros and cons for example. Any hidden flaws I might run into. Etc. etc.

As an aside, I also use (and love) Dungeon Alchemist, but it's a bit too "shiny" for what I'm looking for in my games.

Thank you for any advice you have!

Ah, that's great news. Thank you.

i haven't heard any word about Leng going away, but then I also didn't realize it was ever that important in 1e. The city of Yjae change may have been driven by other factors than the remaster and probably shouldn't be taken as evidence of a general trend in Leng lore... we shall have to see, unless perhaps someone else has heard something?

Leng plays a fairly big role in Rise of the Runelords, as well as the fifth Shattered Star adventure when you travel there. Denizens of Leng and moon-beasts also play a major role in Strange Aeons. Aside from that, the Nightmare Realm pops up in several unexpected places. Yjae is one of them, as is the Wall of Heavens Mountain. I'm sure if I took the time to dig through sourcebooks I could find many more examples.

My concern is that Pathfinder 2.5 has divested itself of all Lovecraftian Mythos stuff, and Leng is just one casualty. Are Cthulhu, Azatoth, and Nyarlathothep still established parts of Pathfinder? The Necronomicon? Or are they out too?

I am a big fan of Pathfinder 1e, and don't plan on switching over to 2e mechanics, but I do like keeping up with the lore of the 2e campaign setting. I know there have been a lot of changes, and most of them make sense to me. But apparently the Nightmare Realm of Leng is gone now? That confounds me. There's no WotC IP conflict there, and Leng had a massive role in Pathfinder 1e. It's also a really cool, interesting place. Is there any word as to why it's been written out in 2e?

I'm not even 100% sure that it has been disposed of, but it certainly seems to have been. I only noticed because in the Tian Xia World Guide, the Shory city of Yjae is now being invaded by some oni. In 1e, the city had a Leng incursion. Apparently Leng is now legacy content? Sigh.

That's good advice. Thank you.

Hey all. I've been playing tabletop games my entire adult life (as well as much of my pre-adult life), and love these games. I play multiple times a week as both a player and GM. Many of my friends are also tabletop gamers, and we have a great little community that I am very fortunate to be a part of. Of late though, I've developed an interest in getting brand new people into the hobby. The folks who are curious about TTRGPs, but for whatever reason, haven't tried the game themselves.

I'd absolutely love to GM a group of people brand new to the TTRPG experience. I think it would be a blast. I've taught Pathfinder to many people over the years and it's always been a rewarding experience, but those people were always familiar with at least one other system (usually 5e). This is an incredible hobby with so many upsides, but I also know that, from the outside looking it, it can be very daunting and mysterious.

Problem is, I'm not sure how to find these TTRPG-curious. There are dozens of ways to find new players who are already experienced in the game, but I couldn't find any resources for recruiting those who are brand new.

These days I almost exclusively play online, but I think for brand new players, a face-to-face game would be better and more rewarding. Plus, if I can find a player who is a bit lonely or socially isolated, I think in-person would be a great option.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions/thoughts/experience in this regard? I'm thinking of contacting some community outreach programs in my area, but that's my only idea right now.

Definitely getting Shadow Under Sandpoint vibes from this. Especially with the ghast alchemist on the cover.

Oh and I almost forgot the most important thing:

Describe those mechanics and abilities as extensively as possible to the characters. What do they see? What do they hear? What happens in front of them? Depending on the mechanic you want to use give them hints how it works and how they can overcome it in advance or during the encounter.

The enemy beeing immune to damage or just popping another health bar and abilities without explanation? Frustrating and not fun for the players.

Interrupting the evil guy during his vile ritual to absorb energies from the dark tapestry they read about in the ancient tome? The warnings of the dangers of such a ritual they discovered in the ancient crypt or temple a while ago? Seeing as he struggles to control those energies as he gets weaker (and maybe even needs actions in combat to keep control)? Witnessing how his body is consumed and twisted by those energies as he is defeated, only to watch in horror the abomination that his screaming body transforms into, loosing his self in the process of becoming this new, dark and primal beeing they have to defeat?

EPIC!

Yes, I agree with you here absolutely. Right now my only really interesting boss fight is with the mad flesh golem and columns of frozen lightning. This is what I have:

Check: A DC 14 Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (nature) check identifies the threats posed by the frozen lightning pillars.
Check: A successful DC 16 Knowledge (arcana) check is enough to realize that the supernatural lightning is influencing the flesh golem, driving its frenzy. If some of the pillars were deactivated, the creature may cease its rampage.

The PCs will be 6th-level, so these are definitely doable checks to make. I will also probably describe how the electricity seems to be flowing into the golem, and each zap seems to fill it with both power and frenzy.

In the case of the final battle with multiple life bars, it will be very clear to the PCs that they have entered a new "phase" of battle. I'm still planning this one out, but it will be incredibly explicit.

Love the description of the Dark Tapestry ritual by the way. Funny, because that's the entire focus of my campaign - Night Herald cultists toying with forbidden occult space magic.

I wouldn't say that rules are there to be broken, rather they are something DM and players agree on or agree on ignoring them sometimes.

What I mean by that, is if you want to add mechanics to fights that are not defined by the rules to spice things up a bit, tell and ask your players beforehand. Not exactly what you are going to do, but that you want to try some things to make encounter more interesting for your players. Nothing is more frustrating than a dispute mid combat because things don't work as the players thought they would and are accustomed by the rules.

For example I suggested to my players to switch some things up with initiative for encounters where it would make sense to add a bit variety. They were a bit skeptical first, but agreed to try it and the encounter was a blast.
In that encounter they were fighting a chimera and I gave each head (dragon, goat, lion) it's own initiative and split its actions among those, to mimic things kind of legendary actions from D&D 5e.

One thing to keep in mind is, if you are giving them new abilities and mechanics compare them to existing things to get an idea of how it will impact the difficulty and adjust it accordingly. In the case of my Purification Ritual encounter, I took into consideration that the action economy would differ drastically, as almost half of the players actions were needed for the ritual. The actual enemy had to be adjusted for it, because otherwise it would have destroyed them.

Yeah, I suppose breaking wasn't quite the word I was looking for. For example, in the case of a boss with multiple life bars/phases, there's nothing in Pathfinder rules that allows for that per se. But it's a classic boss fight mechanic and I plan on using it for my final boss fight.

I've been watching videos from Matthew Colville, and he has some excellent advice. As he put it once: the rules are there for the players, not the bad guys. That's heavily paraphrasing, but his advice was not to allow rules to limit the GM from cool, awesome storytelling. For example in PF 1e, only a very high-level necromancer can create and control interesting undead. But should that stop the GM from giving his low-level necromancer villain a mummy or wraith servant? No. There doesn't need to be a mechanical reason why the 7th-level necro has such a (relatively) potent undead under control. It will be a cool encounter - enough said.

In the case of legendary/lair actions, I've picked 4 very important climactic fights in my campaign wherein the bad guy will have these. I haven't settled on exact mechanics yet, but I like your Planetarium idea of effectively giving an inanimate object an initiative. Splitting initiative with multiple attacks is also a clever way to do it, especially with something like a dragon. I'm sick of throwing one single powerful foe at the PCs, and having one of two results: either it shreds the PCs, or far more often, the PCs kill it before it can get off more than a round of actions. That's not how I want my dragon fight to go. It should be tense and epic.

My goal in all this is to make things interesting, fun, cool, and novel, both for me and my players. I'm definitely not trying to "beat" them. Just challenge them in a way that they'll hopefully find memorable.

Thanks Toshy, those were great. I'm adding them to my notes - I can definitely use some of those (especially Hell's Bells and the Planetarium). Chicken Raft sounds like a blast.

I had a friend give me some really good ideas as well: add "exploding barrels" that the PCs or bad guys can blow up to damage everyone within range; a multi-stage boss fight where the boss has multiple life bars, and each iteration has a unique suite of abilities and fighting style (this was done in Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal in the Sendai fight, she animated statues of herself, each basically a different "aspect" of herself); a duo of enemies where one gets stronger when the other dies (Dark Souls' Ornstein and Smough). I realize a lot of this stuff is video-gamey and not technically supported by Pathfinder rules, but rules are made to be broken right?

I've also taken notes on the combats run by Brendan Lee Mulligan in his Dimension 20 Youtube show. That man is an absolute genius, and many of his combats felt as much like puzzles as fights.

Hi all. So I've GM'd a while now, and I'm getting bored of the standard combat format: walk into a room with bad guys, everyone roll initiative, hack away at each other until bad guys are invariably dead, move on to next room, repeat. So in a campaign I'm currently writing, I want at least 25% of the combats to be unusual or dynamic in some way. I know "unusual and dynamic" isn't super descriptive, but my examples below will hopefully illustrate what I mean by this.

I'd love to hear how other GMs have pulled off memorable combats. Ones that made the players think, kept them on their toes. Any advice or anecdotes would be much appreciated. I'm also mining memorable video game battles for ideas. Additionally, I'm seriously considering adopting legendary actions and lair action from D&D 5e.

I'm about 1/5th of the way through writing the campaign, and I've set up some (hopefully) interesting combats. Will they work? No idea. But here's my "interesting" combats so far.

Example 1
The PCs have to raid a ghost town occupied by bad guys. The baddies are dynamic - if they hear combat, several of them will react, going to the site of the disturbance if they succeed at Perception checks. There is also a fairly dangerous beast that patrols the town who will serve the same purpose. My hope is that the PCs will need to utilize Stealth and stay on the move, launching skirmishes but not staying in one place for too long.

Example 2
The PCs have to do some sanitation work, as the sewers have been backing up. The culprit is an ooze mephit archer who knows the terrain and has some goblin allies and mindless oozes to utilize. She will snipe for a round or two when the PCs engage an enemy, then flee deeper into the sewer. This happens three times until she is cornered and attempts to surrender. Nothing too special here, but I like it.

Example 3
This is the first combat I'm really proud of. The PCs are spending the night at what they assume is a safe mansion (though I do drop clues that things are amiss). There are several friendly, low-level NPCs there as well. Late at night, a swarm of monsters launch an attack on the manor. They will attack in waves, arriving at set intervals (rounds), breaking through windows or busting down doors. The PCs can stick together and play it safe, but their allies will almost certainly perish in this case. So they will need to chose between the tactically sound approach, or the altruistic but dumb route of splitting up and trying to save some of their friends. PCs will have the opportunity to make preparations for the impending siege, such as trying to convince the friendlies to sleep in a safer area such as a basement strongroom.

Example 4
The PCs are traveling across the desert on camel-back. They find themselves in a veritable minefield of quicksand pits and burrowing antlion-like ambush predators (dust diggers). They will need to carefully make their way across the treacherous terrain, guiding their camels. Lots of Perception and Handle Animal checks. The dust diggers won't beeline for prey, and it's technically possible to avoid combat entirely if PCs are very careful. Every camel that perishes will add time to their desert trek, and time is of the essence.

Example 5
A group of air and lightning elementals have created a sandstorm, heavily limiting the PCs' range of sight. The elementals are not hindered in this way. The air elementals will use hit-and-run tactics, swooping in for an attack then disappearing into the sandstorm, while the lightning elementals will use combat maneuvers to hassle PCs. The elementals attack in waves. In the middle of their group are a pair of special air elementals who are conjuring the sandstorm. The PCs can either hunker down and deal with the elementals' guerrilla tactics, or they can charge forward and try to kill the two sandstorm generators but potentially be surrounded.

Example 6
A single sentient flesh golem has gone berserk in an area featuring vertical columns of frozen lightning. Golem will utilize bull rush and overrun combat maneuvers to try forcing the PCs into the lightning columns, which will simultaneously harm the PCs and heal the flesh golem. Additionally, the columns are hazards by themselves: get within 5 feet, and they have a chance of delivering a shock. The PCs can either focus on the golem or utilize a variety of techniques to "disable" the lightning columns that are driving the golem mad. Attacking a column with a metal weapon to disrupt it but also harming the wielder; casting dispel magic; using skills such as Disable Device or Sleight of Hand to deactivate a column, and so forth. Basically every character class will have some means of disabling a lightning column, if they choose that route.

If the PCs can disable 3 columns, the sentient flesh golem comes to its senses and ceases its assault. It can even be befriended as a long-term ally.

As for the OP: I thought it would be a prime number with two digits, and I had to look up a list of primes because I'm dum and arrived at 11. It felt forgettable and fillery, though.

Yeah, without the Aucturn Enigma context mentioned above, it definitely would be fillery. But I'm seeding the number 11 (and also 56) throughout the campaign, so it wasn't just some arbitrary choice on my part.

You may not need this input, but as a player I hate riddles because it removes the player character from the equation and focuses on what the player knows or can figure out. To me, that is bad design for a role playing game.

I'm not sure if the answer is to allow players to roll some kind of check for success, but perhaps also allow a player (and not their character) to answer the question if no PC is successful.

I absolutely hear you on this. And normally I would agree, but there's some details about my campaign and players that are salient. I'm trying a lot of new things - I've gotten bored running "standard" campaigns, so for this one, I'm including a lot of elements I've never used before. This is a Pathfinder 1e game for context. I am utilizing rules for corruptions, factions, and some homebrew stuff that I think/hope will be neat. I'm also seeding some very non-standard and unusual combats into the mix. I have no idea if any of this stuff will work; I'm throwing a whole lot of mud at the wall, and hoping some of it will stick. I want to experiment and get out of my comfort zone as a GM, while also getting my (seasoned) players out of their comfort zones. If it becomes clear one of my ideas is a dud, I'll drop it.

Regarding this riddle, it is purely optional. The PCs may not even engage with the sphinx. If they do, she will offer five riddles, and the players will have 7 tries to answer them. If they solve at least 3 riddles, the sphinx gives them some juicy (but not plot essential) information. If they solve all 5, she is impressed and gives them a bonus prize. There's no penalty for failure. That said, if the players are struggling, I will probably allow an Intelligence or Knowledge check to give a hint.

As always with any "gate" challenge, I would recommend keeping the Three Clue Rule in mind.

Oh that's good advice. Thank you! So more context: my campaign revolves around the Aucturn Enigma. The number 11 is closely associated with the Enigma. I've decided to change the last line to "Aucturn’s secret in numerical lore." I won't outright tell the players that Aucturn is the 11th planet from the sun, but if they poke this clue enough, I'll mention it offhandedly. Additionally I remembered that earlier the PCs find a Bad Guy Journal handout, written by a cultist who has gone bonkers. For fun, I replaced any instance of two Ls with 11 instead. So instead of writing "All your bases are belong to us," it would be written "A11 your bases are belong to us." It's subtle but happens often enough that I'm fairly sure at least one player will notice it. So... I guess I just need one more clue.

Thanks for all the input everyone, it was very helpful. I'm not sure what I'll settle on, but the different perspectives certainly helped.

Okay, this is my revision. I've swapped out "mirrored" for "palindromic" because that's the actual mathematical term, and changed "Symmetry's secret" to "Aucturn's secret." This campaign heavily involves the Aucturn Engima, and the PCs will have heard of the planet before meeting the sphinx, so if they're stumped I might offer an Intelligence check to hint that Aucturn is the 11th planet in the solar system. Anyway, revision:

In palindromic whispers, a duo aligned;
A twin truth in digits defined.
Prime in its essence, a mystery to explore;
Aucturn's secret in numerical lore.

Reading the riddle before checking the answer I felt that the answer would be a pair of numbers that if you reflected one would create the other and that the resulting image would appear symmetrical and add up to a prime number.

And I had no idea what number that would be other than getting really creative with something point something.

Then I clicked to see the answer and I found out why I didn't get the answer.

The first line is a misdirect because mirroring has nothing to do with anything. The second line does convey that it's going to be a number with 2 identical digits. The third line then narrowing that down to being 11 since that's the only 2-digit same-digit prime number - but then the mystery bit added to keep the rhyme structure could potentially mislead someone since it's just noise. The final line is a misdirect as well because the only way that 11 is symmetrical is if we arbitrarily write one of the digits backwards - which if you actually want just that, written as an answer rather than spoken, this and the first line have a purpose again - and the "secret in numerical lore" part being again a case of noise added to force a rhyme which could mislead the participant.

To your first point, the AI's original riddle used the word palindromic instead of mirrored and I changed it because I was afraid it would be a bit too wordy, but palindromic is the more accurate term. Also yeah, I see what you mean about it seeming a tad forced just for the sake of a rhyme. I may have to drop that.

*Workshopping time*

The main issue is that the first line and last lines focus on 11 being symmetrical which is very dependent on how you write 1s. This makes a weird thing where the only 2 relevant lines are the middle two.

Hmm. That's a good point. I'm not sure how to rectify that, but I'll give it some thought.

Hi all. This isn't a rules question, but I'm still in need of advice. I'm writing an adventure where the PCs will meet a sphinx. The sphinx will, naturally, ask the PCs a series of 5 riddles. The first 4 are fairly classic ones, but I wanted the final riddle to be tough. And I'm not clever enough to write a good riddle so I turned to AI. This is what I put together after a few tries.

Is this riddle too difficult? If so, are there any good ways to simple it up a bit? Important note: the answers to all five riddles are plot relevant, so I can't just pick another challenging riddle that has a different answer.

So:

In mirrored whispers, a duo aligned;
A twin truth in digits defined.
Prime in its essence, a mystery to explore;
Symmetry’s secret in numerical lore.

Hey all. I don't know how many people still play 1e, but I sure do, and I have found something enraging. Mostly because it's so cool, but so difficult to understand. That would be the Psychometabolic corruption.

I have issues with two of its manifestations. The first, called psychometabolic blast, reads:

"You gain the kineticist’s kinetic blast class feature, as well as the telekinetic blast wild talent. Use your manifestation level as your effective kineticist level to determine the effects of these abilities. If you have the elemental focus (aether) or expanded element (aether) class ability, you instead gain a bonus on damage rolls with your telekinetic blast equal to half your manifestation level (minimum +1)."

I can understand most of that. However, my issue is: what is the cost for using this ability? All the other gifts from the psychometabolic corruption use psychometabolic points, but as written, it looks like this ability can be used at will. I assume it is meant to cost 1 point, or be used a limited number of times per day, but who knows.

Second and bigger issue comes from mind blast, which reads:

"When you use the telekinetic blast gained from the psychometabolic blast manifestation, you can spend 2 points of psychometabolic power to use the telekinetic force to wreck the mind of each creature targeted. Instead of you rolling to hit targets with your blast, each target can attempt a Will save (DC = 10 + half your manifestation level + your Constitution modifier) to try to negate the damage and any infusions or metakinesis abilities applied to it. When using this ability, your telekinetic blast is a mind-affecting effect."

I have several issues with this. First, it notes that the user "wrecks the mind of each creature targeted," but a kineticist's blast only has a single target. Second, you're paying 2 points to allow your (singular) target to make a relatively low Will save to avoid the damage? Instead of just making an attack roll that would come from the psychometabolic blast? That seems to very underwhelming, especially with the flavor text of "wrecking the mind" of your targets.

I know this is a long shot and probably won't get many bites, but I'm using this corruption (or more likely, a heavily modified version) for a game I've got coming up. Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

Thanks.

GM: "The trees are whispering."
Player: "What are they saying?"
GM: "Who's listening?" (pause) "All of you make Will saves."

Oh that's a good one. Especially since I remember reading about a forest there where the trees ain't all trees. Thanks! As for statuses, I already gave the PCs random magic items to protect them from Aucturn's poisonous atmosphere, but that place does screw with people in multiple other ways. They're already going insane (part of my campaign involved all PCs to be affected by mind quakes early on), but iirc, Aucturn also physically mutates people. Would be fun to have a character spontaneously turn into a gibbering mouther for a few hours, with no indication I'd turn them back.

Have them meet Carsai the King (possible avatary of Nyarlathotep) who wants something from them in return for help, or has to be convinced to let them proceed. For whatever reason he's not (necessarily) on the side of these particular bad guys.

The funny thing is, Carsai would absolutely be opposed to my villains. The Dominion of the Black (the Night Herald's fascination/fetish) is basically at war with Nyarlathotep. My PCs would 100% try to recruit Carsai, heh.

Hmm, actually that would be a great "deal with the devil" scenario. Have Carsai offer some boon, but at a terrible price.

I have mild-to-moderate anxiety, am on meds and see a therapist regularly. It's a lifelong thing, nothing crippling fortunately - more of a constant background hum that sometimes becomes severe, but for the most part is under control. I've been tabletop gaming for decades, usually as a GM, and while I'll stress out about it, it's usually "normal" stress. For example worrying about a problem player, whether my work is up to par, if everyone is having fun, stuff like that. And never overwhelming.

For the past year or so, I've been GMing largely online. There are a ton of upsides. I love Roll20 and find it very adaptable, it saves me a lot of legwork, is more convenient, and of course allows everyone to socially distance. The downside is the lack of face-to-face interactions, but honestly that's a minor drawback for me at best. I'm an introvert and like being able to have fun with friends while also not leaving my house. Best of both worlds.

So here's the weird part. We play weekly, and I began to notice that my mood would drop a day or so before the game was scheduled. Nothing major at first, but enough that I definitely took note. A small voice began telling me to cancel the upcoming game, which I did once or twice while claiming illness or whatever.

Lately though, within the past few months, things have gotten drastically worse. The hour or so before I go live with a game, I've been overcome with anxiety. Racing heartbeat, rapid breathing, and worst of all that terrible stabbing pain in my stomach that so often accompanies an anxiety attack. It's never reached a full-blown panic attack, but I'm starting to worry it might. And it makes no damn sense. I've been doing this for decades, I've known my players for many years and they are awesome, and anxious though I am, I've never had more than mild stage fright. It's getting to the point where I'm ready to take a break from GMing for my own sake.

I practice breathing exercises, grounding techniques, the works, but no results. The only thing that helps is smoking (not cigarettes), but the trade-off is, when I'm intoxicated even somewhat, my quality as a GM suffers. At least it takes the edge off the anxiety though. And yet another weird thing - within maybe 10 minutes of actually starting the game, the anxiety just washes away and GM-Me takes over. All is suddenly well and I'm fully immersed in the game. But those hours leading up to the game itself? Getting to be downright hellish.

It's incredibly frustrating. I love this game more than most of my extended family (a low bar considering the people I'm related to, but still) and want to keep doing this for as long as I can, but damn.

So who else has found their mental health (whether or not it's anxiety) negatively impacting this awesome hobby? How do you handle it? Or if anyone else wants to just vent like I did for the past several paragraphs.

Sigh. Take care of yourselves everyone.

From what I read, in Starfinder, Aucturn is a nascent Outer God. Maybe that can help.

I like this one. I was thinking something along these lines, such as an avatar of the sleeping Aucturn rise up from the ground. Some high level aberration like a hundun. Have it speak it weird cryptic nonsense, garbled prophecy, etc. Or maybe the PCs find their path blocked by a herd of the mosquito things that feed on Aucturn's black blood. As they prepare for combat, suddenly a massive canyon opens up beneath the beasts swallowing them whole, then seals back up. Followed by a very satisfied belch.

I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place, but it says advice, which I need, so here it goes.

I run an online campaign where the Night Heralds are the villains. For those who don't know, Night Heralds are a cult of fanatics intent on summoning alien horrors to Golarion. Your basic Lovecraftian lunatics. We're reaching the climax of the campaign, wherein the primary villain - a high-level sorcerer - has teleported to the planet Aucturn to perform a ritual that will cause Super Not Good Things to happen. The PCs have just found a one-way portal to Aucturn and are about to dive in and hunt him down. Simple enough.

I wrote out my penultimate adventure and was fine with it at first, but looking over it, I realize it's mostly just 2 combat encounters. My adventures tend to only last about 2 hours and I have to limit combat as a result, so this is normal. The problem is I am having serious trouble thinking of non-combat stuff for the PCs to do on Aucturn. Aucturn is a bizarre, alien nightmare world, and I really want to drive home just how insane the place is. This is where I'm stumped. I've read up on all the Aucturn-related material I could find such as the Distant Worlds Auctun section, but am still drawing a blank. Some combination of writer's block and a lack of creativity on my part.

So does anyone have any ideas? Specifically, ones that will inspire roleplaying. My campaign is very much a sci-fi/cosmic horror, and to emphasize I'm trying to drive home just how utterly alien the place is. I want the PCs to feel completely isolated in this hellish but very cool set piece, while also highlighting some of its many idiosyncrasies. I already have all the combat encounters in place so I can't add more of those.

The PCs are 14th-level right now, if that matters.

Thanks for any suggestions.

*Edit: To be more specific, I'm trying to think of anything cool. Roleplaying encounters with the natives, spooky/mindbending occurrences, hazards - basically anything that will make my players treat this place as more than just a hack-and-slash gauntlet.

Also I know that the PCs will likely never stop to question why they're able to breathe in an enclosed subterranean dungeon. Ever. But I have OCD and an obsessive attention to detail. I always include stuff like methods to produce running water, laundry rooms, and other boring but necessary features.

I've always liked the magic scrubber option. Though often I don't make it a single brick, because it's not intended to be interactive.

A couple of Paizo dungeons explicitly do the air vent upwards thing too. Sometimes just for background detail, sometimes not.

Hah, it's funny you mention both these. From my campaign:

"Additionally, several dozen bricks in these depths have been enchanted, essentially functioning as magic items that cannot be moved without destroying them. They function at caster level 3rd and radiate faint transmutation auras if such is detected for. These bricks magically refresh and circulate air in the Veinstone Citadel, and while it tends to be on the stale side, it is quite safe to breathe."

"...and despite the lack of windows, the air is fresh and flowing. This latter feature is thanks to a number of ingeniously built air vents that keep fresh air moving throughout the vast fortress, helped along by minor magical enchantments that draw air into the compound."

So I've been playing a Pathfinder game focused on the Night Heralds, whom I've heavily developed. I threw together some fiction. If anyone's interested, here's a short story. Basic synopsis: big evil wizard Orlassk Belshain kidnapped the good guys, who managed to escape. Orlassk is the master of the Night Heralds. Three of Orlassk's top agents (Adelita, Harshom, and Maukui) departed in hot pursuit of the players without Orlassk's command. As for the story itself, another of Orlassk's lieutenant, a half-elf guy named Ghartone, rushes into Orlassk's private dining room to inform the boss of this escape.
One last thing: I reference something called the Dominion of the Black. They're a billion-year-old empire/hive of alien monstrosities that Orlassk really wants to summon to his world.

I think I'll add me Night-Herald fiction from the villains' perspective in the future. Hope ya'll enjoy.With no further ado:

The Escape
The door to the small dining room burst open and in the shadowed hall beyond stood a winded half-elf man, his face, long given to stoicism, now etched with panic.
“Master please forgive the intrusion, I bring grave news!”
Orlassk sat his fork down with a sigh, but said nothing. Ghartone waited a beat before continuing. “The four Prime Candidates have found a way to escape. Maukui was keeping an eye on them when they made their move.” More silence.
Ghartone was growing desperate. “Master, what are your orders?” he all-but demanded.
Orlassk turned at last, regarding his subordinate with a disaffected coolness. “At what point were my orders to have changed, Ghartone? Was it before or after you ruined my meal?” The half-elf was about to respond but, as if suddenly noting the sharpness of the response, managed to stop himself.
“Nevermind. Tell me, who has gone in chase?”
“I believe Harshom, Adelita, and Maukui teleported ahead of them. The Droon Guard has assembled a team of scouts to follow.”
“Then I have just lost three trusted lieutenants and a guard regiment,” Orlassk replied flatly. The lesser Night Herald was quick to appreciate the implications. He could offer his superior only more silence in reply.
“I was arrogant, Ghartone. I believed I could harness the mind quakes, but instead I called forth something that was beyond my control.”
The sorcerer rose, his robes shimmering in the wan moonlight that peaked through a nearby window. “No worries, old friend. These things happen.”
Orlassk strode over to a waiting hookah and took a long draw from it, his breath causing the coals to glow dangerously in the shadowed lounge. He paused to feel the hallucinogens take hold before continuing.
“We are scholars and scientists, are we not? The possibility of failure mustn’t deter us from our path. Instead we must strive to find a way to reverse the situation so that things are in our favor once more.”
The two men were quiet for a time. Ghartone furrowed his brow in consideration, a number of possibilities rushing through his head. Then he realized.
“The Prime Candidates will try to follow you to Aucturn. Either that sniveling wretch Oscilar puts them down, or they make it past him and offer themselves up to you.”
Orlassk grinned a bit. “That’s the sum of it. I want you to go to them soon, after they’ve made it past your disgruntled fellows. Tell them that the game is up. They’ve occupied too much of my attention as is, and I do not have anything left to spare them. If they are genuine in their perseverance, they will find me in due time.”
Ghartone bowed a bit, new marching orders in hand, and spun to depart. Orlassk’s icy voice halted him.
“Before you go, tell me. As for my other gambit, do you think me foolish for pursuing it?”
This was unusual. A legitimate question with no hint as to what was expected in response.
“That… is a complicated matter, my lord. Perhaps we should discuss it another time.”
Orlassk nodded but said nothing. A few whispered syllables of magic later, and Ghartone was gone. Alone once more, the man who was audacious enough to call himself Master turned his attention to the coals that smoldered upon his hookah. His vision swam from the toxins that now coursed through his lungs, his blood, his brain.
You’re wrong, he thought. It’s not a complicated matter at all . The Dominion of the Black had been his mentors and comrades for decades, but they now demanded that he play the obedient sycophant, and that was unwise. He was Orlassk Belshain, and not even the Dominion was above his reproach.

I'm a stickler for details. Obsessively so, in fact. My fortresses and strongholds always have ample storage space, pantries, a well, occasionally running water, a laundry room, workrooms, etc. But there's one stick in my craw: how can a fully subterranean, largely self-contained dungeon maintain fresh air for the occupants?

I have limited knowledge of airflow in closed subterranean places from reading about oldschool coal mines, and have two solutions: Solution one: the occasional brick in the dungeon wall is enchanted with transmutation magic to purify the air in the vicinity. Option two: discrete vents reach to the surface, and minor magic pulls in air from the outside and circulates it in the dungeon.

Yes, this is incredibly (perhaps overly so) obsessive on very minor details, but that's the stuff I love. Has anyone given thought to how the air in their deep, sealed off dungeons stays fresh and breathable? My third idea was to have a plant/algae/fungus farm to function as air purifiers, but the two dungeons I'm working on lack space for such a thing.

So yeah, there's my obsessive details-oriented quandary. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. Thanls.

"The oldest and most prestigious magic academy in the world is the Magaambya, an ancient institution founded by the greatest wizard the world has ever known."

Xanderghul, Sorshen, Tar-Baphon, Nex, Geb, Arazni, and Aroden's eyes all collectively twitched a bit when they heard this. Jatembe is certainly high-ranking, but methinks there's some pro-Magaambya bias partisanship behind this statement.

Most observatories' domes can rotate.

In most cases, the entire upper portion of the telescope dome can be rotated to allow the instrument to observe different sections of the night sky.

Ah, that would make a lot more sense. Thanks.

So I've Googled around, but can't seem to get the mechanics of it. I'm referring specifically to the dome aspect of modern observatories. Looking at them, they only open a side slit in a fixed location. Hard to explain in words, so here's a good picture.

Looking at those observatories, it looks like the telescope is in a fixed position and can only observe part of the sky. Can the entire dome spin to allow the telescope access to different quadrants of the sky? Or are observatories all fixed in place? Any explanation and/or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

On the other hand, between Extinction Curse, Beginner's Box, the Vault mini-AP, and Erik Mona's mega-dungeon, you have a TON of site-based adventure material, all focused on a 50-200 mile perimeter that could take up a campaign for 2-5 years.

Would someone be so kind as to point me towards Eric Mona's super dungeon?

Doomsday Dawn saw the end of ONE Dominion plot on Golarion. Iron Gods saw another. There are still plenty more Dominion Plots lurking in the wings waiting to be uncovered or discovered by PCs!

In particular, something I'm working on for 2021 will have some Dominion elements in it... it has nothing to do with the Valley of the Brain Collectors or the Countdown Clocks.

The Night Heralds and the Dominion are still very active on Golarion. It's why we chose the Night Heralds as one of the groups to mention in the Core Rulebook, in fact.

Awesome, thank you for the info. I'm not expecting a Dominion AP (as amazing as that would be...), but I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for the 2021 Dominion madness.

I've always loved the Night Heralds and Dominion of the Black - it's probably my single favorite thing about the Pathfinder campaign setting. That said, information on the former has always been sparse. The most we have is a small write up in Occult Mysteries and the 2nd-edition playtest Doomsday Dawn. Doomsday Dawn effectively saw the end of the Dominion of the Black's threat on Golarion.

So I was surprised to see that the Night Heralds are still very much active - they even have their own symbol and write up in the new Core Rulebook, and are apparently still active in Osirion. I'm curious about a lot of Night Herald/Dominion things, and I'm actually getting kind of excited by the gosreg creature in the 2nd edition bestiary. Not only does this suggest that the Dominion is still being fleshed out, but the sidebar suggests that the Doomsday Dawn was only phase one of the Dominion of the Black's plans to invade Golarion.

Now that Night Heralds are an official faction with a nifty symbol and everything, and we continue to get Dominion monsters and references, does anyone have ideas/plans on using either in their future campaign? I've been designing a Night Herald campaign on and off for over a year, and I know people on these boards are nothing if not a great source of inspiration.

For my own campaign, I'm ignoring a large chunk of the Doomsday Dawn adventure. In my opinion it retconned too much of the original story. Without too much complaining, it relegated the Four Pharaohs of Ascension to puppets of Ramlock, didn't mention any of the 11 gifts given by the Dominion (other than the Last Theorem), and changed the Night Heralds' motives from a nihilistic urge to be absorbed brain-first by neh-thalggu, to seeking out Countdown Clocks as a means of protection against the coming apocalypse.

So yeah, if anyone has any thoughts, ideas, suggestions or the like, I'd appreciate it.

This part isn't necessary, but in case anyone wanted to know...

Also now that I think about it, are there any sources I'm missing about the Night Heralds/Dominion? The following are big ones:

Occult mysteries (Midnight Herald description)
Valley of the Brain Collectors (Dominion of the Black description)
Doomsday Dawn (meh...)
Pact Worlds (Starfinder book with loads of info on Aucturn)

Bump.

Unfortunately I need to cancel my Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription. Thank you.