You're right, Heal is not a guarantee choice for a PC. But, for a dedicated healer it'll probably be towards the top of their list.
I don't have a problem encouraging my players to fight. In fact, its the opposite and that leads me to my question. As the players increase their resources, how do we increase our threat particularly with Insanity?
Outside of repeated blunt force trauma, conditions (and I'm using Insanity because it fits my situation) add a layer of threat. But, it seems that as written they loose their potency as soon as you hit mid-level.
Insanity is just another tool of the GM. Just like environmental conditions, magical auras and interrupted rests provide layers of threat. I'm just trying to find out if anyone has had any luck with this tool in higher levels because it seems that just about anything except being hit really hard can be negated with common spells.
But they're fully compatible. I dropped the freeport sanity rules into my pathfinder game without an inch of modification. Worked fine.
Sounds good. I've been meaning to pick up Freeport for awhile and this is a good enough reason.
But, I'd still like to know if anyone has any suggestions on dealing with insanity and conditions in general in higher levels. I'm really feeling like I can't do anything once the cleric or druid gets heal (which seems pretty much standard on a healer).
Both freeport d20 and call of Cthulhu d20 have sanity subsystems.
Yeah, I'm trying to see if there is anything within the PF ruleset. I may need to take it to a 3P or other system, but that's not looking good for future conditions in my PF campaign.
I'm running a higher level campaign and want to use the Insanity rules. After about level 11, it seems that insanity and most conditions are pretty easy to overcome.
Anyone have any advice on how to make Insanity a little more difficult to side step at higher levels? I don't want to make it impossible, but at least a little more challenging than just casting Heal.
That was in direct reference to multi-part Tyranny of Dragons module series.
Sorry Aux, I misunderstood. I was responding to:
Auxmaulous wrote:
Luckily we have FGG taking some of this on, but I think the actual adventure content is going be (and has been) their weakest area and pretty lightly supported for this game if no other 3pp step up.
I read it as you didn't know that Kobold Press was doing their Tyranny of Dragons.
Auxmaulous wrote:
IDK if they are farming this out because they know they don't have the module writing credits or if they are just too busy focusing on the game, so they sent the module out to alleviate pressure on the design team.
I'm not quiet sure they would admit that they don't have writing chops to create a good adventure (and I don't really believe that to be true of the current WotC design team, in the first place). Mike Mearls has stated that they are going to be farming out adventures and other material to 3PP, so the core team can focus on the rulebooks.
I think that is pretty reasonable and a great step in the right direction. I'm excited to see Kobold's adventure. I'm really excited about to see what the future holds for D&D material created by other 3PP.
This is why I worry about FGG's move to start a KS prior to getting a public confirmation of an OGL. I hope they don't remove themselves for future projects because of a false start.
These are huge concerns - on top of all of that, Wotc has not put out a good module since they took over the TSR reigns. IMO - of course. I just can't think of anything that was slightly memorable that they have produced during the 3rd/3.5 era. Not talking Dungeon mag 3rd ed era, some of those were good - much better than Wotc offerings at the time. I just can't remember any of the modules - the hardcover "return to" being included (I have them all). Just boring adventures that started looking very set piece/minis focused near the end (those book layouts were terrible).
Luckily we have FGG taking some of this on, but I think the actual adventure content is going be (and has been) their weakest area and pretty lightly supported for this game if no other 3pp step up.
Maybe the new AP style mod will fix it?
I completely agree that the best adventures of the 3E era were in Dungeon -- it wasn't even close. That said, I did like Red Hand of Doom.
People seem to love that one - I bought the series (the hobgoblins right) - if one stands out it would be that one.
But yeah - they really need to work on their adventure cred. Maybe now with a little less focus on minis and maps (for the minis) and them trying to setting up tactical fights will give way to memorable locations, plots and interesting NPCs.
** spoiler omitted **...
You guys are aware that the first big 5e adventure is going to be done by Kobold Press?
WotC is already farming out their adventure material, which makes me a little worried about FGG's books. With no OGL specifically for 5e and WotC beginning to work with 3pp, I have to wonder how they will handle an outside publisher creating D&D Material. I hope we don't see a new round of negative PR just because someone didn't ask for permission.
Really talk to your group, if they want to be "mythic", let them go crazy. Run the Mythic rules as written, just know you'll need to go completely off-script with most of the encounters.
I would run the first two or three books close to as written. Towards the end of the third book, I would liberally wing the rest. Make the mooks proactive as you see appropriate. You most likely will have to increase the BBEG's HP by 3-5 times, rewrite the feats and spell selections, bring in more support mooks and don't forget to add in environmental effects.
When it looks like the party is going to win, create an environment for a decent story. Stretch it out so everyone gets to do something cool (including you!).
It's going to be a lot of work to make Mythic work as intended in this AP. Judge how much time you want to spend rewriting the encounters and go from there.
Beyond that I would encourage you to run the AP. The storylines are great. There is a lot of room for player interaction.
What can we expect in the 5e Foes? 240 entries is a lot of entries, especially since we haven't seen whats in the Monster Manual. Is it going to be 240 completely new creatures?
I suppose this question is relevant to the Book of Lost Spells, since we haven't seen the PHB.
I'm moving to Vero this month and looking for fellow rpg players in the area. I'm interested in getting into the new D&D edition and trying out the new material. I wouldn't be against other rulesets, as well. I'm just looking to touch base with other players.
Please respond or send me a PM if you have room at your table or are interested in getting a group together for regular play.
It currently appears to me like the kind of fantasy RPG one would cut their teeth on before advancing to the full suite of options and complexity many enjoy with Pathfinder.
Sounds like they nailed the purpose of a Starter Set.
I think its a bit early to compare it to PF at this point. Hopefully, the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and DM's Guide will provide sufficient amount of options over the Starter Set and Basic rules PDF (which I'm assuming it will).
I like the Basic set. The Movement rules are an improvement and should make combat a lot more interesting.
The Death Saving throws might be fun to play.
The stacking Exhaustion is interesting. I know I'll be using that a lot more in my adventures.
All in all, I think Basic is a good start. It provides a good entry level for new players. I look forward to seeing the new books. December should be interesting to see where I spend my holiday funds.
I'm still going to continue to play Pathfinder, but there is a pretty good chance my money (and some of my time) is going to 5e for the rest of the year.
I've wanted to find a system to introduce my kids to the hobby. Pathfinder is just too rules heavy to properly keep an eight year-old and his friends engaged even to get through character creation (I found this true for some new players over eight, as well!). I've looked at 13th Age and Savage World, but D&D still has some name recognition at that age and should be a good platform to lead into other rpgs.
I also haven't been impressed with Paizo's response to the 5e release. Iron Gods AP, Advanced Classes and a super-dungeon (coupled with an "we're not worried, there's plenty of players for everyone" attitude) hasn't sold me.
I have an idea for a dwarf that has been carrying his family's curse. Someone in his family was cursed by a great undead Phararo for deeds lost to history. The curse forced the generations to live on the sands and wander the desert.
At least that is what my hero thought was the extent of his curse and the reason for being ostracized from his people. The real reason he was cast out (along with his kin before him) was the curse actually mingled his blood with the jinn. The odd mix of blood for a dwarf (which manifests into a chaotic mix of magic) and his ability to easily survive in the hostility of the desert makes him an obvious outsider to his people.
I've had a few players drop out, so I need some last minute seats filled. This is a new player friendly game. We will be playing in the Level 1-2 tier.
I have two brand-spanking new players to RPGs in general. They've said they would prefer a more mechanics driven ruleset, no problems committing to two to four sessions and are interested in a Lovecraft setting. They both have a background in mmos and enjoy RP-ing within those games.
The rest of my table will be filled with very experienced PF players/GMs.
Is Carrion Hill too advanced for such greenhorns even with the support of the rest of the table? I could scale back the encounters to suit the table, but are the amount of PF specific gameplay and mechanics (such as skill checks, understanding of the lore, required rp-ing, etc) too overwhelming for the new players to adequately enjoy the module?
I want them to enjoy module, but not to be regulated to wallflowers because they are overwhelmed with an advanced setting.
I know we've had our differences this last year and haven't always seen eye to eye, but I want to say Thank You.
Thank you for the holiday card you sent me.
It really wasn't necessary. I would have been happy with an email :).
So to Lisa and James to the warehouse crew (and that's no slight; I've left my share of sweat, blood and tears on the floor) and everyone working at Paizo...I sincerely hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a great New Years!
I figured I'd share my end-of-book notes for posterity. Hopefully, someone looking to run this AP will find it helpful.
Book 1 Hotwash:
Started: 10 Oct 2013
Completed: 5 Dec 2013
Medium of Play: Roll20/Google Hangouts with a private Google Community
# of Players: 4 (picked up 5th player second session)
Character Creation: 15 pt buy-in/only Core & APG classes
Total Playtime: 33.25 Hours/8 sessions (this doesn't include the out-of-session RP on the Google Community page).
GM Notes:
- NPCs:
o Horgus was delivered to his home at Indifferent.
o Anevia is delivered to Defender’s Heart at Friendly. Her story continues to be revealed.
o Aravashniel was delivered to Blackwing at Helpful. He is intergrated into the PCs stories and will continue throughout the next book.
o Irabeth helped during the Garrison attacks, but didn’t follow the PCs inside. She is Friendly. Her story continues to be revealed.
o Millorn was brought back to Crusader’s custody and attempts were made to redeem, but ineffective. He may be back in future books.
o Fenna is a GM created NPC (librarian from Blackwing). She is being used to help further along and integrate the Riftwarden storyline. She is Helpful.
- Most encounters seem relatively easy; beefed up encounters approx. 50% towards the end of the book.
- Using the dynamic lighting feature on Roll20 was extremely effective, particularly for the first part of the adventure.
- Used the Google Community page to do out of combat RP-ing. This was successful and made the multiple NPC voices easier to develop and keep organized.
- Total in-game world time: 7 days
- Total Devotion Points earned: 8
- Deaths: 0
- I had to restructure some of the NPC backstories to make them flow better with the adventure.
- I didn't have Irabeth accompany the PCs during the Garrison event. She and Aravashniel did lead the diversion attacks. The mongrelmen did go with the PCs which was plenty. In retrospect, I would probably just let the PCs go themselves. They didn’t have too hard of time and went through without retreating.
- The wardstone finale is a monologue, even though it’s broken into rounds. During prep, it wouldn’t hurt to write out the narrative. Just reading it, as written, doesn’t work.
Overall impression: This was a good time and everyone at my table had fun. The NPCs are challenging, but spending time out of session to do the RP and doing it in a play-by-post style really helped. This also allowed the PCs a chance to find their voice. The NPCs needed a little tweaking to make them feel a little more natural, but nothing too major. The battles were a bit under-powered, but the PCs did occasionally find themselves in tight situations.
Looking forward to move on to Sword of Valor after the holidays!
My guys took ol' Millorn with them and handed him over to the Crusaders at Defender's Heart. I'm wrapping in a nasty demon blood addiction (the primary reason for his forced exile) and resulting insanity (caused by his dependency and withdraw). Depending on what the players want to do, we may see him again in the future.
I saw the traitorous mongrelmen as being more politically driven, then actual religious converts. The traitors and the Neathholm mongrels seem to be more in a tribal war and the cultists arrived recently, basically taking over the camp. I know there was some interaction prior between Hossila and the traitors, but I played that as most being a relationship of convenience.
I would say if you're looking to change the traitor mongrelmen, really good diplomacy rolls would be better. That could be augmented with promises of deity favor. That tactic is definitely not uncommon and would make sense.
That could be accomplished with good bluff rolls from anyone depending on what was promised, I suppose.
It took my guys 3 days to get out of the underground and a day to run the NPCs home, ending at Defender's Heart. Another day to clear out the safe houses, putting them at five days total prior to going into Part four.
They all had at least 10 days of trail rations in their packs, so no real issue of starvation. (Its assumed the PCs are fully outfitted for adventure being they are on a border town of a century long warfront, even though they are attending a celebration.)
I haven't made it into Part four, but the PCs did pick up one point from the shrine in Part one.
Read the posts about the difficulty of the encounters. Its an issue for some people, especially if you go beyond standard four player/15 point buy.
My group is five with 15 pt buy and I know I've had to adjust encounters to increase the difficulty to make it more enjoyable for the table. That's the preference of you and your players, but something you may want to think about.
The PCs are stunned during the vision. Their enemies have been shredded by the same energy that causes them to ascend. There is nothing for them to do during that time, and they cannot do anything but watch.
The events are listed round by round to give a sense of time. The characters should see these events flickering past rapidly, staying around only long enough to give a sense of understanding.
So, you're saying its just a narrative with the rounds as breaks. That's pretty much how I'm reading it, too. I just see the use of rounds as a bit unnecessary and confusing.
Those are the actions of the NPCs. That's basically part of the narrative. Are the PCs suppose to be doing something or something happening to them besides the visions in between the rounds?
I'm prepping the Grey Garrison. Looking at the final act with the wardstone, its saying "rounds". I would think that indicates something should be happening in between the rounds, but I don't see anything.
Am I missing something or is this a narrative that's just oddly broken up?
I gave the choice to my players to pick a NPC to expand one of their backgrounds. They chose Aravashniel, so I re-worked him and the Riftwardens a bit to be more of a covert, militaristic “special forces” type group and Aravashniel is their (or now has become their) leader.
He gives the PCs some insight on Xanthir Vang being the leader of the Blackfire Adepts and the Riftwarden’s main target which is nice foreshadowing. (although Vang’s roll is a bit confusing seeing it seems to change from Book 1 and 2 to Book 3)
I would like to bring the Blackfire Adepts into the game a little more. Does anyone know if Veserda the Owl makes more of an appearance later in the AP? She would make an interesting NPC early on in the story.
Honestly, the more I think about it, I really wouldn't suggest taking on an additional GMPC at the beginning. You already have three NPC to wrangle (which was plenty for me, anyway) and could always just use one of them to be that fourth man.
It did seem, once I started my campaign (with four players), more players started knocking to join the adventure. Most of the first book is pretty easy to integrate one more player into the fold.
I would recommend telling your players that someone needs to step up. Its not your job to keep the group alive. Its the players responsibility to put together a reasonable party composition to survive this type of adventure. Remind them that the baddies have to attack someone and if no one stands in between the baddies and the range PCs, then there wont be range PCs for long.
Remember, Paladins are a bit of a trouble magnet. Most of the enemies are written to head straight for the paladin (or obviously good aligned characters).
You could always scrub that part of the description or just make something that wouldn't attract all the attention...unless of course, you want to gm and be the center of the fight.
I am going to be hopefully running this AP in a new few weeks, I am just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to make it as interesting as possible.
I have read the first AP (the only one I own so far) a few times now and it seems like it is going to be hard, I have a group of experienced players and I am a relatively new GM. Just want them to get the most excitement out of it.
Also has anyone not used Mythic in the later parts of the AP? Does it work out well and how well does Mythic work out?
Do everything Tangent101 said.
Also, make sure you know your NPCs. You start out with three and they all have potentially conflicting backstories. Being ready to play them against each other and the PCs add some depth to the experience at the beginning of the AP (which otherwise is a pretty straight forward dungeon crawl).
I wasn't making up the terms like "powerful commanders". That came from the Player's Guide and seems to indicate a leadership structure within the demon hordes.
Back to the OP's question, if the demons were completely chaotic, I would think that's worse for tieflings. If everyone believed that a demon is unpredictable, then it would seem reasonable that anything or anyone demon touched would carry the same sentiments. You wouldn't be able to trust half-demon, since you would never know if the tiefling's chaotic side would kick in, in an unpredictable way. Even the most tolerant NPCs would have to keep an eye on a tiefling, just in case.
Not sure I see where the general consensus believe that there is no clear leadership. As early as the Second Crusade, they saw the demon hordes driven by powerful commanders. Even earlier then that, their town was infiltrated by demonic infiltrators. We also know that the Storm King has been leading the charge since the Fourth Crusade, indicating a pretty clear leader.
Since the century of relentless attacks from the Worldwound, I can't really see why the populace of Kenabres wouldn't be very wary of anything demon touched.
If the cultists in H10 heard the commotion, they should be trying to sneak up on the group. They would definitely be looking to make an ambush. Gather up the remaining reinforcements (untie the ones that are conscious or heal Wendaug), prevent the PCs from getting any rest and as soon as they open the door, rush them!
Teach them a lesson....don't leave survivors unattended!
That's how I read it, too. Racism isn't always about ignorance or blind hate. Sometimes its driven by fear and in this case, I think the people of Kenebres have some legitimate concerns.
Yeah, the cover on my second book is starting to come off. I'm being very gentle with the first book. I would also like to hear from Paizo if this being addressed.
I don't buy the hard copy to cut it up and put it into binders. If I wanted to do that, I would just stick with the pdfs and print them out.
I just set specific points to level and gain mythic tiers. Ignoring xp makes it pretty easy for levels. You might have to get a little creative with m-tiers, if the trials are not close to rest points. Or you could just give them to the players in sudden flashes of divine intervention, like the 1st tier.
--------
My players decided to save Millorn, instead of killing him off. They have been dragging him around a bit and there has been some interesting RP coming from the relationships. Some of the players are starting to talk about helping Millorn, which I think is a pretty cool idea.
But, that means I have to flesh out Millorn a little more then what's in the AP. I've decided to treat him as inflicted with insanity (psychosis with a touch of paranoia). He has an obsession with the statue found in his belongings (which I made his bonded item). After these changes, I'm a little short of ideas on how to describe the reason for his banishment and insanity.
What I'm think is changing his Universalist school to Banishment. Explaining to the party (if they get this far with his recovery/redemption) that his research into banishing demons brought him too close to the real thing and the local authorities branded him a heretic. Over the years he continued his research into sending demons back to their plane in hiding believing it was for the greater good, but not realizing his sanity was being ripped from him due to the chaotic nature of his subjects.
What do you guys think? I've never played and don't know much about the wizard class. Does this sound like a reasonable a way wizard would get himself into trouble?
I'm running this campaign online with a VTT and Google Hangouts. The Hangout has a feature that allows me to share my screen. I made a quick PowerPoint presentation from a number of artwork frames in the book.
During the intro, I ran through the slides shared with my players. The art style gave a cool feeling of movement that helped convey the feeling of the moment. All in all, I think the artwork is pretty good and worked well for what I wanted to do.
A few of my players asked about tieflings during character creation. When I said they needed to think about the consequences of a tiefling in a city that is on the warfront of a demon invasion, they quickly pointed to the player guide.
I didn't prohibit any race, just consequences might be felt for races that may be seen as undesirable. This might be the reverse for races that were seen in a more positive light (say the Core races).
I also told them it may not only be the tieflings that have a hard time in Kenabres. Catfolk, as an example, might have things tougher then other races given the attitudes of Hulrun's Inquisitors; as described in Certainty.
So, I'm trying to open up the NPCs backstories for my players. We made it through one session and they are camped out at Millron's cavern, after driving him off. Anevia and Aravashnial have been made Helpful, while Horgus was driven off Hostile due to a successful Intimidation check to help clean the temple (oh, those silly players ;P).
I'm still playing Anevia a bit closed mouth. Even though she is helpful and friendly, I don't feel she would be revealing everything to these strangers after only a few hours. She keeps things vague by saying things like "I am worried about my wife." or "I need to get home."; leaving out details like her wife's name or that she is a player with the Eagle Watch at this point.
The sticky part comes with Aravashnial's relationship with Avenia. His descript reads:
Quote:
Aravashnial recognizes Anevia by sight only
Aravashnial and Anevia are pretty friendly with each other, since he doesn't know who she is (being blind and she's hasn't said who her wife is). Now that they are at a point to casually talk, I plan to open up more of the character's stories which is going to potentially send the two into unfriendly ground with each other.
Okay, this has been a long ramble and, as I write it, it seems I'm answering my own questions. I suspect even if the one of the two become "curt and terse", that could lead to more avenues for players to explore.
Once the PCs get to H2, they have a number of options. But the path to Hosilla's quarters isn't on the way out, in fact you have to go down, which seem counter to way the PCs have been going. I can't find any reason for the PCs to go that way (except on accident) other than just telling them they need to explore and missing Hosilla's quarters seems to be a big mistake.
Any suggestions on how to get the PCs to head towards Hosilla's quarters, instead of just going up and out?
There really is something to be said for waiting for an AP to be fully released to run it.
This feels like a punishment for people that are excited to play a product that they have already purchased. There has to be a better way to explain plot hooks that come to revelation in later books within each of the earlier books, so GMs don't break the adventure early on and have to do a lot of unnecessary backtracking.
This problem becomes somewhat irrelevant at MTier 9 with Immortal.
Quote:
Immortal (Su): At 9th tier, if you are killed, you return to life 24 hours later, regardless of the condition of your body or the means by which you were killed. When you return to life, you aren’t treated as if you had rested, and don’t regain the use of abilities that recharge with rest until you next rest. This ability doesn’t apply if you’re killed by a coup de grace or critical hit performed by either a mythic creature (or creature of even greater power) or a non-mythic creature wielding a weapon capable of bypassing epic damage reduction. At 10th tier, you can be killed only by a coup de grace or critical hit made with an artifact.
Tier 9 is pretty deep into the story line, but I suppose you could always just move it up to tier 1...at least the first part. Leave completely invincible (except for CdG and crit w/ artifact) till tier 10.
I don't know...the event that "makes" PCs mythic is pretty specific. It looks like there is going to have to be a lot of creative work done on the GM side to basically come up with a whole new way and story for a new PC.
Perhaps divinely selected, instant reincarnation or transfer of souls (by divine intervention at the moment of death, mythic heroes soul is transferred to another body that has been destined to die, saving the mythic destiny and the physical body)? That might be a reasonable way to keep the story line together when someone dies and give an option for a new player, in case someone drops out.
