Goblin Hype Maker's page

I'm just trying to wrap my head around possible differences in the encounter design between PF1 and PF2. And the question that has come up: How does table 12-1: Encounter Design from PF1 CRB translate into table 10-2: Encounter Budget from PF2 Bestiary. Both tables give 5 (differently named) encounter difficulties and I'm wondering if it's just other names or if there has been a shift.

With an example: An encounter against 2 PF1 hobgoblins(CR 1/2) would be a CR 1 encounter which is an average encounter according to table 12-1.

My question now basically is: What is the equivalent in PF2 :

using 2 hobgoblin soldiers 1 for an xp budget of 80 (moderate threat)

or

using 2 weak hobgoblin soldiers 0 for an xp budget of 40 (low threat)?

Thanks,
Wormy

Now that Secret Empire has mostly been finished, it's time to go back to a more including format (technically, the old SE thread still included stuff from all the other Marvel offerings, too, but still the title pointed at SE as the main topic). We might have to deal with the repercussions of the last Big Event, but in time the focus will shift away from it, especially with Legacy looming at the horizon.

Not sure if Thomas will still be doing his weekly summaries (sure hope so), but that shouldn't stop anyone else to chime in to comment on anything going on in the wider Marvel Universe (probably better to exclude TV series and movies as they have their own threads in the respective board sections). Today seems a good starting point, as a new batch of Marvel comics has been released. And while I haven't read any of those, I can at least give you the list of what we have to expect this week:

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #9
Astonishing X-Men #3
Black Bolt #5
Champions #12
Daredevil #26
Generation X #6
Generations Iron Man and Ironheart #1
Hawkeye #10
Iceman #5
Inhumans Once and Future Kings #2
Iron Fist #7
Jessica Jones #12
Journey to Star Wars The Last Jedi Captain Phasma #1
Royals #7
Spider-Man #20
Spider-Man Deadpool #21
Star Wars darth Vader #5
Star Wars rogue One Adaptation #6
Venomverse #1
Venomverse War Stories #1
X-Men Gold #11

As far as I'm concerned, in my neverending and ever failing quest to keep and catch up with all the series, I certainly plan to read those comics I bolded above. Might already take up all the time I have for it, but if I'm lucky enough I might finally start to read up on Jessica Jones and or the Spider-man series. We'll see how that goes.

Well, for all the crazy that is Secret Empire, I still think that what we sorely need is a thread dedicated to all things X-Men (and that includes the Inhumans) and what better time to make one than when the first issues of the new RessurXion comics have been out for the public. As time allows, I plan to write short vignettes for everything related to RessurXion, but given the number of series involved, we'll see how this goes. I guess that I should set up a spoiler alert, though I'll try to be as unspecific as possible. In the end, I guess that I'll mostly be a bit behind the schedule, so this might not be the biggest problem

Royals #1 and #2

I'm starting with the new Royals series by Al Ewing and Johnboy Meyers of which I just read #2. It's about the Inhuman royal family taking to the stars in the hope of solving the mystery behind who the Inhumans really are and thereby maybe finding a means to save their race threatened by extinction after the destruction of the last Terrigen Cloud. It went off with a slow start, setting the story, hinting at future developments and with kind of a shocking revelation at the end. Unluckily I also found it to be steeped a bit to thick in cliche („Seven went forth, and six returned”: come on, how lame is that?) Also what's with the constant need to openly tell us that at least one of the members of this journey has a hidden agenda, when a little bit of subtle foreshadowing would be equally effective and much more interesting as a storytelling tool.

#2 picks up some speed, with the Inhumans meeting the earth-approaching Chitauri fleet and having to battle their way through it, which gives them terribly little time to cope with last issue's big cliffhanger (which is probably a good thing though I hate Medusa's new look even if it's only logical. Ends again with another surprise I should have been prepared for (I mean there must be a reason that Black Bolt gets his own comic book) but actually wasn't. The book had some great scenes in it (I broadly smiled about Noh-Varrs comment on Medusa's condition, loved Flint's solution to the Chitauri problem and well, let's just say, that I'm nothing but excited about the last panel because that basically guarantees that hilarity will ensue.

Generally I like the direction this comic is taking. Inhumans are finally back in Space where they belong in my opinion, and I hope that Ewing will be able to bring back the old magic, Inhuman-related comics held for me before they decided to return to Earth. And given what's at stake here, this series holds a lot of promise as far as Space Opera is concerned. So the only thing I'm a bit torn about is Meyer's artwork. I dig his backgrounds and I feel he has a good hand for the inclusion of little details you might not even see at first read. What I don't like so much is his characters, that have been called manga-esque by some reviewers but I don't think that that is my problem so much as that the faces aren't conveying emotions as good as they should (and I think that the inclusion of Thony Silas in #2 makes this problem even more glaring)

All-New Wolverine #19

I'm glad that they decided to go with the old numbering, even when, after the events of „Enemy of the State II“, this clearly is a new chapter in Laura's life. I've been a big fan of her since the beginning, and All-New Wolverine is one of my most favorite comics at the moments, so don't expect me to be too critical with it. I'm as annoyed as Gabby is when Captain Marvel (*ugh*) breaks the friendly banter between her and Laura, but that's mostly it. Tom Taylor has developed a real good grasp at the characters, and it's loads of fun just reading the interaction between them even during all those action-packed scenes. Can't wait to see how Riri Williams and Laura get along with each other. And then there's still the mystery why a little alien kid crashing onto the planet infected with a deadly disease would utter the name of Wolverine with his dying breath.

Weapon X #1

I've still to read the whole „Old Man Logan“ series, so I don't know exactly where OML is standing at this point of time (apart from what I saw of him in all those other X-Men comics). But hey, it's Wolverine so what would you expect? It seems to have a nice, slow start that is suddenly broken by an attack of what seems to be the latest reincarnation of the Weapon X project obviously hell-bent on capturing and/or killing some of the most bad-ass mutants., including Lady Deathstrike, Domino, Warpath and (naturally) Sabretooth. The last one, Logan decides to pay a visit and enlist him to help him bring down this new (old?) enemy, whether he likes it or not. As it turns out, he likes it not very much, which is what Logan counted on, so he decided to bring the enemy with him.

We haven't seen too much of this new team in this issue which still has to form, but given who's supposed to be part of it, I'm already sold. Old Man Logan doesn't hold the same appeal to me that Laura Kinney does, but this team-up sounds a bit like X-Force gone really bad, so I'll stay on board for at least a while.

X-Men Gold#1

This one has already become notorious for the controversy around Penciler Ardian Syaf, who succeeded in including some hidden messages that could (and probably should) be interpreted as anti-semitic and anti-christian. It really is a shame because I consider Syaf to be a great artist, but he really should have known better as to pull such a stunt in an X-Men comic of all things.

Apart from that it's a nice introduction into this „new“ team consisting of long-time X-Men members (probably with some younger additions) led by Kitty Pryde which is probably the most important change as long-time leader Storm still has to deal mentally with the fallout of her latest decisions in CW 2 and IvX. You can also read it as a comment for all of us who were so insistently hoping that the X-Men would finally return to the good old times, immediately remembering that those times weren't especially good at all. Oh, and I love the banter between Kitty and Logan.

Apart from that, we still have to see what this team will be confronted with. We see them tackle an old enemy and then have to deal with a crowd of muggles that obviously aren't too fond of them. Kitt acknowledges this difficult relationship in a nice little, very Xavier speech, but we'll see if they really can rekindle this old dream.

X-Men Blue #1

This here comes straight out of All-New X-Men and still deals with the original five stranded in the future and , as we've learned, unable to return back to their time. Immediately thrown in a big fight with Tom Black Cassidy and the Juggernaut, their new mission is to handle „threats against mutantkind, comrades who have lost their way, mutants who capitalize on the fears of the populace“. At least that's the mission statement given to them by their new boss who wants them to ensure that Xavier's dream becomes reality (oh, the irony!). Also, there seems to be a new Wolverine in town (in forest, actually), though there's not much revealed besides his mere existence. I've heard people say that this might be one Jimmy Hudson who happened to be the Wolverine's son in the Ultimate universe, but as I didn't read most of those comics, I would have no idea about it. They seem similar enough in appearance, though.

No matter what, I really like those young X-Men and I can't wait to see how the relationship between them (and their new mentor) will develop. In the able hands of Cullen Bunn and Jorge Molina, this should be a fun ride.

So, anyone else here reading those comics?Any comments?

You may know JaronK's tier system in which he tries to categorize the D&D classes according to their strength with regard to inter-party balance.

Now as this system goes for the 3.5 variants and I've just started thinking about customizing the system to better match my taste, I'm wondering how the changes made by the Pathfinder RPG may change the categorization of the base classes and where the new playtest classes would fit into the system.

I'm not as much into game balance as I probably should be, so I'd appreciate any input on this matter.

regards,
Wormy

Just wanted to say that I really love that you're nowadays "signing" the blog pictures with the respective artist's name. I requested the same thing some time before for the Pathfinder Products so I really appreciate this little bit of additional info (especially as the artists add a lot to the overall tone of Golarion an the product value of your adventures and source books).

...and that's why I've started to love Paizo for. Yesterday evening (german time) I finally found the time to take a look at PF #1. As usually I started with the editorial...

...took a look at the picture

... read the title

... and I felt fine.

The only bad thing is that my wife's already getting angry about me singing the same old song over and over again.

You've gotten me once again and I just can't wait to dig into all the other great stuff not so hidden under the Shadows in the Sky.

The description of the feat states that "If your attacks are made with a two-handed weapon, add an amount equal to double your Strength modifier"-

Does the term "two-handed weapons" also applies to 1h-weapons wielded as a 2h-weapon or is this to be read as a weapon-type restriction?

regards, WQ

My group and I have decided to use the SCAP as a playground for our playtest session and now I'm converting the "Life's Bazaar"

Now the first encounter is with 3 NPCs (war 2); conversion doesn't seem too difficult but now I've two questions nonetheless.

1. Do they get extra HP?

We're playing with racial HP. I'm not sure if NPCs should gain those extra HP as well (which, in addition with their toughness feat, would make for 22 HP on average). Not that I would mind it but this leads directly to

2. What's their CR?

The section "Adding NSC" (pg. 61) states that NPC with non-player-class-only levels should be factored in with a "CR equal to their class level -3". Which would make for a CR 1/2 (slight correction: CR 1/3?) creature. Compared with a Fighter 1 this doesn't seem to fit, though. The Fighter would probably have equal HP (assumed that he has CON 14 and takes toughness as one of his feats, worse BAB, probably worse Saves. He has a fighter bonus feat, but would this justify the better CR?

I'd be grateful if someone could clarify this for me.

regards, WQ

It is said about the first encounter in Burnt Offerings that „the point of this battle isn't to test the PC's resources but to set the scene and flavor for the insanity that is the goblin.“ (pg.12)

Here is how it worked out in my game. We play online (post-by-post) over at a german board and my group consists of seven players so I decided to boost the encounter a bit by adding three additional goblins to the initial assault. And at the beginning of the fight and of round two I let them hear the warchanters singing the first verses of the Goblin Song.

At the start all of the characters (with the exception of the two halflings) spotted the dog-killing goblin an got quite nervous cause he seemed to be the only opponent (which they couldn't believe). So they weren't too surprised when I brought the other goblins into play.

One of them jumped off a roof and landed next to a PC in a brewer's booth breaking his dogslicer while backstabbing one of the town guards. He totally ignored said PC and decided to drink as much beer as fast as possible. He had just found a bottle of rum when he got blasted by the Dragonfire Adept's breath weapon, which resulted in a nice darting flame coming out of his mouth.

Another one tried to ambush Father Zanthus at the podium but fell under a sleep spell cast by our wizard.

A third one, instead of attacking, first searched another booth for some valuables. He found a bottle with some easily inflammable content and threw this bottle, immediately followed by a burning torch at one of the halflings. Without success. The bottle hit another goblin (I swear it was accident, I used my dice according to PHB) while the torch fell harmlessly to the ground). This goblin was successfully charged, as was another one. The dog-killer died through a lucky blow of the group cleric.

So at the beginning of round Two, five of six goblins were already dead/sleeping, the sixth followed soon. Easy victory.

Normally I would have expected some criticism for the boring encounter, but not this time. Instead, they are so concerned about „the insanity that is the goblins“, that they are actually discussing if it is even worth questioning the sleeping and so captivated goblin they assume to be totally loco. And though I didn't gave the slightest indication of what will happen next, you can see they are a bit nervous. I'm looking for their reaction if the next group of goblins lits the fuel wagons..

But the best thing is to see how they play their characters. I have some experience running post-by-post-games and it means usually a bit of work to get the players excited about the game and their characters if you cannot use mimic and gestures, but are totally limited to the written word. But this time it was one encounter and they cannot wait to see what happens next and better yet, have begun to develop their characters by simple interaction with their environment.

So I'd like to thank the contributors to these boards, especially Erian_7 for his great map and smashthedan and all other contributors to the Welcoming Speeches Thread, whose ideas I stole and adapted for my own speeches. You greatly helped me to flesh out the setting and make it appealing for my players.

But first and foremost, I'd like to thank James Jacobs and the Paizo stuff for what may be the best introduction into a new campaign I've ever seen. Things develop exactly as you suggested and I cannot wait to present them Gresgurt to give them a taste of the scary things to come.

P.S. I'm generally interested in how this encounter played out at other tables. How did your players perceive the Pathfinder goblins at the end of encounter one? And how did this perception change over the run of Burnt Offerings?

I've asked this in the middle of another thread, but just to make sure:

I'd like to translate some of the Pathfinder specific blog entries into german and to post them on a german board (www.dnd-gate.de) to hopefully generate some interest in the new Pathfinder Series.

But apart from any possible legal issues (not sure if there are any) I think it's a question of respect to ask for permission first. So would you mind if I do so or do you think it's ok that I post those translations ?

yours, WQ

In my campaign, Cauldron is located at the frontier between Darguun and the Mournlands, so I had to invent a reason, why there should be a gnome enclave at all, being known that gnomes prefer to live in Zhilargo. Here is what I thought of:

When the Dragonmarked Houses launched the War of the Mark around 1500, it soon became clear, that this war wasn't about the aberrant marks only, but also about economical power. The gnomes of Zhilargo with their thirst for knowledge for its own sake shouldn't have been involved at all. But there were a group of gnomes at Korranberg, which tried to work with the knowledge they gathered, including the creation of magical items and of mechanical automata. Realizing that this would arise the opposition of the House of Cannith they decided to leave Zhilargo to protect their gnomish brethren. They found refuge in the inner bowl of an dormant volcano where they built the city of Cauldron. An artificer named Jzadirune went further and carved out an enclave for himself and his family, which was named after himself.. There they went forgotten, investigating and creating magical items which they stored, hoping to make a bargain in future time.
This time began in the year 30 YK, when Cauldron was discovered by an royal expedition sent out by Galifar I., who soon realized what a treasure he had found there. Under his protection the gnomes of Jzadirune reached an agreement with the House of Cannith to be allowed to further item creation in exchange for a great part of the knowledge they had gathered since their exodus out of Zhilargo.
All went well, until in 894 YK King Jaroth died and the five nations split. Cauldron belonged to Cyre at this time; Cyre gained exklusive access to the items created in Jzadirune, thus becoming a major threat to the other kingdoms. But they never trusted the gnomes which had developed good contacts to their Zhilargian relatives and wished to stay neutral in this conflict. The House of Cannith took the chance to get rid of an competitor and encouraged the mistrust growing in the Cyran Rulers.
It was in 918 YK when unknown saboteurs destroyed the Glass Tower of Sharn. This event was so dominating in the worldwide reception that another accident found nearly to none attention. A strange magical disease, called The Vanishing, killed some of the gnomes of Jzadirune and forced the survivors to evade from the enclave. No one knows what caused this plague; But it seems that Cyre wasn't to eager to help finding a remedy. Rumors spread that Cyre wanted to suppress the gnomish wish for neutrality, and learning that gnomes can be as bullheaded as dwarves, found a cure to teach those obstinate creatures a lesson in obedience.
Although no prove can be found that those rumors were right, scholars believe that this accident was one of the reasons, which made the Gnomes of Zhilargo to give up their neutrality and to ally with Breland in 962 YK. And when the Last War ended, Cyre had been destroyed and it seems impossible to further investigate the cause.

But there exists another rumor... one that could threaten the honor and might of the House of Cannith and, if proven to be true, could even lead to another War of the Mark. Some people (mostly gnomes) think that it actually was the House of Cannith trying to profit from the Cyre-Jzadirune alienation. And when the results of this alienation were to meager, they used their knowledge about the gnomish achievements to develop a magical weapon which brought destruction to their competitors.

(Sources: Eberron Campaign Setting – articles about Breland, Zhilargo, and the History of Eberron;
Dungeon Magazine #97 – Life's Bazaar, pg. 45 Cauldron and pg.58 f. Vanishing in Jzadirune )

As ever, comments and corrections are really appreciated.

Yours truly,
Wormy

I recently started a new D&D Campaign with a group of mostly new players with little knowledge of the game system and less knowledge of campaign worlds such as Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms. And since I tend to (wrongly) assume that the historical development in those worlds is known to my players ( which in this case actually is not), I decided
1)to use the Eberron Setting where this sort of knowledge isn't necessary (and can be found in one book only)
2)to convert the Adventure Path, so that I can focus on helping my players instead of controlling a self-developed campaign.

The idea is as follows:
1.The PCs start in Shadowdale where they get hired to find Randal Morn, the rightful leader of Daggerdale, and the legendary Sword of the Dales in an ancient wizard's tomb (one of my players has met Elminster and has had some terrific experiences with the Zhentarim, so this should scare him a bit ;) ). For those who remember, this is taken from 1995's Sword of the Dales scenario.
2.In the tomb they find information about other legendary swords (Giventhar, a Githyanki sword, and the well-known Balmung and Excalibur).They happen to rescue Randal Morn but fail to take the Sword which is stolen from them right before their eyes and transported to Eberron via the Portal located in the tomb (I know I'm mixing two different wheel of planes there but that's intended. )
3.To introduce my Players to the Eberron Setting, I'll lead them through "The Forgotten Forge" and "Shadows of the last War". In my campaign, Rose Quarry is located at the foot of a dormant volcano; from there a road winds up to the city of Cauldron, the last human outpost in Daargun and the last greater city at the frontier to the Mournland. There the adventurers will meet Elaydren d'Cannith after their return from Whitehearth and there the Adventure Path will begin...
4.In my campaign, the cagewrights will work for the Dreaming Dark; their goal is to open a Portal to Dal Quor, to make another Quori Invasion possible. They want to enslave the goblinoids of Daargun first (hoping that Darguun won't get to much help from the other nations). With this foothold gained , Khorvaire will be theirs and serve as a great source of human vessels.
5.To fashion the soulcages, the cagewrights need the scheme the House d' Cannith and the Emerald Claw are searching for, and maybe, the Dreaming Dark is the driving force behind the Emerald Claws efforts (I haven't decided on that yet). Besides, the cagewrights need seven legendary swords to finish the soulcages (the four swords mentioned earlier, and the Sword of Aknar Ratalla (Dungeon #119 – this module gave me the idea for this campaign).

So, here's my question: Does anyone knows other legendary swords (preferably from other Dungeon modules, official world modules and the like, which i could include in my campaign? Those modules should broaden the world my players live in, expand the amount of XP available ( I think for new players, the AP seems very, very challenging), and deliver some nice swords (not necessarily from the Forgotten Realms, other Campaign Settings would be very welcome, at the end, the existence of the whole multiverse should be at stake :) ).
Second, I think to remember, that there were modules about the Githyanki in old Dungeon issues. If I am right, can anybody tell me, which issues I have to look through?

Conversion issues
So far I replaced the Church of St. Cuthbert by the Church of the Silver Flame (one of my players is eager to play an exorcist of the Silver Flame and here's the connection). The Striders of Fharlangn have transformed into the Striders of Light (so to say the military arm of the Path of Light, mercilessly opposing the cagewrights for what they are – servants of the Dreaming Dark). I intend to replace the Carcerian Sign by the long forgotten "Mark of Death". I haven't gone into the details of the later AP modules - I'm working on the translation of the „Life's Bazaar“ into German at the Moment - so I don't know if my changes fit into the story development of the AP? Is there place for Psionics (I'd like to give Meerthan a level as psionist, but have no idea about the adventure's personal in the future).
I would really appreciate if someone could give me comments on that. And you're welcome to assist me with helpful advice, how to include Eberron Stuff into the campaign or even devastating criticism (maybe something i said earlier won't function with the AP? ).

Yours truly,
Wormy