Gird Medvyed's page

The Wiki is a group effort over a few years, but it's not the best way to present the rules. Something like the PFSRD web site is much better.

I can't promise anything at the moment.

if you wouldn't mind i would love to see your rules for star wars. feel free to reach out to me here or at perseus.creed@gmail.com

thanks much!

Hey, all. New DM, here.

My players finished the Haunting of Harrowstone and we all had an absolute blast with it. Reading through the book for the Trial of the Beast, I remembered a page I found on the d20pfsrd about intrigue mechanics (I'll put a link the the page at the bottom of the post). It seems to me that applying some of these mechanics to the investigation of the Beast's 'crimes', particularly the law and order and influence mechanics, that could add a lot of depth to the investigation beyond just having the players make perception and diplomacy checks over and over to get information.

I want to make the investigation as engaging as possible and to give the players a sense of continued investment in the situation. My problem is that I have no idea where to start with this a thing. Anyone have some ideas on how to incorporate some of the things on this page into the Trial?

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/intrigue/

Thanks in advance for your help!

PerseusCreed wrote:

Hey, one last question. At the back of the book there is a segment guilty blood: common ashes. When am I supposed to refer to this? I can't find any instance in the adventure where the players happen upon any journal entries from here, so what is it for?

Guilty Blood...? Oh! The short story! One of the common features in most (all?) Paizo Adventure Paths alongside the actual adventure, the bestiary, and the lore article, is a short story that fleshes out more of the Lost Omens Campaign Setting and presumably touches on themes of the adventure as something of a flavour piece to set tone. The only relevance it has to your adventure is if it gives you a feel for the region. I think you'll find that all 6 books of the AP include a portion of this narrative

Ah, I see. Thanks much.

Also, I thought you would want to know. My players finished the 5 haunts last session and returned the badge to Vesarronia. They had an absolute blast with the campaign and can't wait for more. A large part of this is due to your help, so thank you very much for it.

I am currently prepping the trial of the Beast.

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Personally, I had the council restrict access to Harrowstone, so as the haunts in the town are reaching a fever pitch and zombies are crawling out of the churchyard, my first party wanted to press council to lift the restriction, whereupon I announced that there was to be a meeting. Then at the meeting the council conceded to let them investigate as if it were their idea to hire them.

Given the pace the towns went for me, I feel like it should probably happen about a week after start unless the party see particularly quick and anxious to press forward

thanks for that idea. my players haven't made a move toward the prison yet, they did ALL of the research in one big orgy of knowledge gain and went to dig up the professor's grave and raid the false crypt. Due to percentage rolls, they've encountered the skipping song, the restless dead, and are about to encounter the musical stirges tomorrow night at session.

if i might ask for some more advice: if they make their way toward the prison, should i just have a couple town guards stationed at the start of the path to harrowstone as the town's way of enforcing the restriction? does that sound like a reasonable approach?

That seems reasonable, though for want of guards, you could use a couple of the deputies. You could also have Kendra warn them in advance about the ruins being off limits.

In my game the party had a bit of personal animosity with the sheriff, so I might have the sheriff approach them to 'remind' them not to go mucking about if they head out to the south. My party were concerned about not being able to get back into town to protect Kendra if they were caught, so that was enough deterrent until they could attend the town hall.

Addendum: it seems like your party is right on the cusp of going in, so I'd

...

More info: I have found another part of this guilty blood segment in the second book I really have no idea what to do with these. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Personally, I had the council restrict access to Harrowstone, so as the haunts in the town are reaching a fever pitch and zombies are crawling out of the churchyard, my first party wanted to press council to lift the restriction, whereupon I announced that there was to be a meeting. Then at the meeting the council conceded to let them investigate as if it were their idea to hire them.

Given the pace the towns went for me, I feel like it should probably happen about a week after start unless the party see particularly quick and anxious to press forward

thanks for that idea. my players haven't made a move toward the prison yet, they did ALL of the research in one big orgy of knowledge gain and went to dig up the professor's grave and raid the false crypt. Due to percentage rolls, they've encountered the skipping song, the restless dead, and are about to encounter the musical stirges tomorrow night at session.

if i might ask for some more advice: if they make their way toward the prison, should i just have a couple town guards stationed at the start of the path to harrowstone as the town's way of enforcing the restriction? does that sound like a reasonable approach?

That seems reasonable, though for want of guards, you could use a couple of the deputies. You could also have Kendra warn them in advance about the ruins being off limits.

In my game the party had a bit of personal animosity with the sheriff, so I might have the sheriff approach them to 'remind' them not to go mucking about if they head out to the south. My party were concerned about not being able to get back into town to protect Kendra if they were caught, so that was enough deterrent until they could attend the town hall.

Addendum: it seems like your party is right on the cusp of going in, so I'd drop mention of the town hall

...

Hey, one last question. At the back of the book there is a segment guilty blood: common ashes. When am I supposed to refer to this? I can't find any instance in the adventure where the players happen upon any journal entries from here, so what is it for?

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Personally, I had the council restrict access to Harrowstone, so as the haunts in the town are reaching a fever pitch and zombies are crawling out of the churchyard, my first party wanted to press council to lift the restriction, whereupon I announced that there was to be a meeting. Then at the meeting the council conceded to let them investigate as if it were their idea to hire them.

Given the pace the towns went for me, I feel like it should probably happen about a week after start unless the party see particularly quick and anxious to press forward

thanks for that idea. my players haven't made a move toward the prison yet, they did ALL of the research in one big orgy of knowledge gain and went to dig up the professor's grave and raid the false crypt. Due to percentage rolls, they've encountered the skipping song, the restless dead, and are about to encounter the musical stirges tomorrow night at session.

if i might ask for some more advice: if they make their way toward the prison, should i just have a couple town guards stationed at the start of the path to harrowstone as the town's way of enforcing the restriction? does that sound like a reasonable approach?

That seems reasonable, though for want of guards, you could use a couple of the deputies. You could also have Kendra warn them in advance about the ruins being off limits.

In my game the party had a bit of personal animosity with the sheriff, so I might have the sheriff approach them to 'remind' them not to go mucking about if they head out to the south. My party were concerned about not being able to get back into town to protect Kendra if they were caught, so that was enough deterrent until they could attend the town hall.

Addendum: it seems like your party is right on the cusp of going in, so I'd drop mention of the town hall meeting right after the stirges, so they know they can/should bide

...

well, to be fair they have completed a lot of the pre-defined town activities, it's true, and yes on the first day. They just happened to do things in the right order to achieve it and were lucky with a couple of the rolls i did to see how much time something took. But they seem cautious about the prison still. one wants to try and do more research (even though they currently know everything there is to find in town) [chuckles]. i was thinking i would have the Splatterman do the first letter, then throw a couple custom sidequests and encounters their way to fill a couple days between letters and try and distract them a little bit so they don't piece things together too fast. And i was also thinking i would maybe toss in a few of the creepy events too, like the barred windows dream or the random gravestone with a pc's name on it, things like that.

once these have been done, it feels to me like enough time will have passed for the town council meeting. does that sound reasonable?

PerseusCreed wrote:

my question is about awarding XP.

context: i am a first time DM running a couple friends through the Haunting of Harrowstone. When reading the campaign book, the book suggested that the players should be level 4 around the end of the adventure, but the experience the have been gaining according to the encounters and situations outlined in the book, they were going to hit level 3 long before they have even approached the haunted prison. I am wondering if i have been distributing XP wrong, or if there is something else going on. Here's how i've been running it.

Say the group encounters 3 zombies and defeats them all. according to the book, a zombie is worth 200 xp. so after the fight i awarded the players 600xp each because they defeated three zombies as a group.

should i be dividing that XP evenly between the players (say there were 2 players then they would each get 300, etc), or am i doing it right by awarding them all the total xp for the monsters they defeated (each player gets 600 because the group defeated 3 zombies)?

the same question applies for situational xp. say they complete a story event that would grant 400xp. do both players get 400, or do they share the XP for 200 each?

i hope this makes sense.

the reason i am concerned is that even though my players are having a great time as i am currently running it, i also don't want them over levelled when we start book 2.

The XP are divided between the player characters. After all, defeating 3 zombies with 4 PCs is easier than doing it with 2 PCs.

If there are NPCs in the group, it depends on why they are part of the group.
If, as an example, you add an NPC cleric because the PCs lack healing capacity and the NPC is as powerful as a PC, he will get one share of the experience.
If he is a cohort got through Leadership, he gets none (he increase his level when the PC with Leadership increases his level).
If the NPCs is an independent character, but not as strong as the PCs (as an example,...

thanks much! you've been a big help.

PerseusCreed wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Personally, I had the council restrict access to Harrowstone, so as the haunts in the town are reaching a fever pitch and zombies are crawling out of the churchyard, my first party wanted to press council to lift the restriction, whereupon I announced that there was to be a meeting. Then at the meeting the council conceded to let them investigate as if it were their idea to hire them.

Given the pace the towns went for me, I feel like it should probably happen about a week after start unless the party see particularly quick and anxious to press forward

thanks for that idea. my players haven't made a move toward the prison yet, they did ALL of the research in one big orgy of knowledge gain and went to dig up the professor's grave and raid the false crypt. Due to percentage rolls, they've encountered the skipping song, the restless dead, and are about to encounter the musical stirges tomorrow night at session.

if i might ask for some more advice: if they make their way toward the prison, should i just have a couple town guards stationed at the start of the path to harrowstone as the town's way of enforcing the restriction? does that sound like a reasonable approach?

That seems reasonable, though for want of guards, you could use a couple of the deputies. You could also have Kendra warn them in advance about the ruins being off limits.

In my game the party had a bit of personal animosity with the sheriff, so I might have the sheriff approach them to 'remind' them not to go mucking about if they head out to the south. My party were concerned about not being able to get back into town to protect Kendra if they were caught, so that was enough deterrent until they could attend the town hall.

Addendum: it seems like your party is right on the cusp of going in, so I'd drop mention of the town hall meeting right after the stirges, so they know they can/should bide their time for one more day to bring the issues up and pressure the...

does it seem that close? they are dammned curious, sure. And like i said, they did all the research right off, but they haven't even found the first letter left by the splatter man yet. They did a lot on the first day of the campaign, i was even rolling dice to see how much time had passed. When one of them was going to a research point they passed a group of children, which led to the skipping song event, then after getting ALL of the research done at once (such studious little boys), they went back to the restlands that night to dig up the professor's body and raid the false crypt and the restless dead event was triggered. then they went back to Kendras home and went to sleep right around the time Gibs was going to do his vandalism. They are going to hear about the first case of the splatterman's work first thing tomorrow afternoon. So far as i can tell, they have barely thought about going to the prison. i was also going to throw a couple side quest hooks their way, too. some stuff i thought up to give a more 'strange things are happening' vibe to the place, just in case they were moving things along too quickly.

my question is about awarding XP.

context: i am a first time DM running a couple friends through the Haunting of Harrowstone. When reading the campaign book, the book suggested that the players should be level 4 around the end of the adventure, but the experience the have been gaining according to the encounters and situations outlined in the book, they were going to hit level 3 long before they have even approached the haunted prison. I am wondering if i have been distributing XP wrong, or if there is something else going on. Here's how i've been running it.

Say the group encounters 3 zombies and defeats them all. according to the book, a zombie is worth 200 xp. so after the fight i awarded the players 600xp each because they defeated three zombies as a group.

should i be dividing that XP evenly between the players (say there were 2 players then they would each get 300, etc), or am i doing it right by awarding them all the total xp for the monsters they defeated (each player gets 600 because the group defeated 3 zombies)?

the same question applies for situational xp. say they complete a story event that would grant 400xp. do both players get 400, or do they share the XP for 200 each?

i hope this makes sense.

the reason i am concerned is that even though my players are having a great time as i am currently running it, i also don't want them over levelled when we start book 2.

Personally, I had the council restrict access to Harrowstone, so as the haunts in the town are reaching a fever pitch and zombies are crawling out of the churchyard, my first party wanted to press council to lift the restriction, whereupon I announced that there was to be a meeting. Then at the meeting the council conceded to let them investigate as if it were their idea to hire them.

Given the pace the towns went for me, I feel like it should probably happen about a week after start unless the party see particularly quick and anxious to press forward

thanks for that idea. my players haven't made a move toward the prison yet, they did ALL of the research in one big orgy of knowledge gain and went to dig up the professor's grave and raid the false crypt. Due to percentage rolls, they've encountered the skipping song, the restless dead, and are about to encounter the musical stirges tomorrow night at session.

if i might ask for some more advice: if they make their way toward the prison, should i just have a couple town guards stationed at the start of the path to harrowstone as the town's way of enforcing the restriction? does that sound like a reasonable approach?

hey there, first time DM here. I am running the haunting of Harrowstone and I am doing some prep for the various Events outlined in part 3: strange days in Ravengro. I have noticed that almost all of them have a recommendation for when they can be encountered by the players, but the fifth event (smoldering revenge) has no such recommendation. I don't figure my players are anywhere near it as we have only had one session; but they have progressed quickly through things so far, despite some very entertaining shenanigans, so I want to be prepared in case they get there sooner than I anticipate.

so when would be an appropriate time to introduce this event?

I appreciate any advice you all can give. Thank you.

If thw alchemical item is replicating the effects of a spell, I would say that the immunity still stands.

what if it isn't replicating the spell, like this item i found?

Alchemical Sleep Gas
This liquid evaporates quickly when exposed to air, creating a temporary, mildly toxic cloud that puts living creatures to sleep. You can throw a flask of sleep gas as a grenade-like weapon. It has a range increment of 10 feet.

On a direct hit (splashes have no effect because the gas dissipates instantly), a living target must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15) or fall asleep for 1 round. After 1 round, the target must make another Fortitude save (DC 15) or sleep 1d4 additional minutes. The sleep gas affects creatures that are immune to magical sleep effects but not creatures that are immune to poison. Spells and effects that cancel or counter poisons (such as neutralize poison) are effective against the gas.

The gas affects only one creature of Small or larger size. The gas affects all creatures of Tiny or smaller size in the 5-foot square where it strikes.

Note: A sleeping creature is helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens the creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening the creature is a standard action.

The Alchemy DC to make alchemical sleep gas is 25.

I am helping a friend to DM his first pathfinder campaign, and while going over the Doppleganger creature in preparation for an encounter, i thought of something:

The doppelganger has a listed immunity to charm and sleep, and i was wondering: is this immunity only to magical sleep effects? or can a doppelganger be put to sleep by non-magical means like some kind of alchemical gas attack?