Say, have you heard? There's a weird elf can fix you up with what you need to make a few coin, so long as you got no human blood. Transportation, tips where to pinch or dig, alchemical gear or special orders, riddles about spells and the planes if you need such answered. Pays in southern gems he does. Look for a thin high house in the Wise Quarter, but don't go down past the first basement. There are rats.
Hurricane's limestone Townhouse wedges between two other buildings in three storeys above ground, three below, each with a single room off a narrow spiral stone stair. He has had the interiors stripped back and relined in austere and alien designs of dark stone. The rooms' nooks and angles hold more objects than at first it seems, including multiple tall, spindly furniture pieces of pale, strangely-angled metal.
Does a formula book count as a spellbook for the third goal in season 7? While we're at it, how about a witch's familiar, if alive and convinced to cooperate?
Esteemed colleagues,
Some of you know of the opportunity that our Society has obtained in Varisia to reconstruct the wizardly learning of Thassilon while we take care to avoid the moral taint that the doctrines of Sin brought upon the empire.
Pathfinders have asked my assistance to support a study group, under the kind accomodation of Venture-Captain Wulessa Yuul within Farseer Tower in Katapesh, to promote cooperative research and application of necessary resources to this task.
Ekasa will present details of her proposal, which I commend to your attention.
This volume launches a short companion series to City Builder that I might describe as developed examples of the concepts for social institutions and built forms that we set out there, connected as a shared Mediterranean-themed campaign world. It fleshes out the setting for the Swords of Kos fiction series and keys in extensively to past and upcoming Skirmisher game releases.
I had a lot of fun writing many of these entries. It's good to see them finally available to the community.
I haven't been able to post replies to certain threads in PFS General Discussion over about the past week, although I just succeeded in a different thread (and succeeded here). Has something changed?
This also impacts TWF and quick draw. Hold a greatsword 2h, take all your iterative attacks, free action to hold it one handed, quick draw your off hand weapon, take your TWF attacks.
That works by the rules, provided that you took the TWF penalties on all your iterative attacks.
Alexander_Damocles wrote:
It just gets kinda silly.
It's very silly to expect a character to do well at both two-handed weapon attacks and two-weapon fighting. I seriously doubt it would be effective.
The enhancement bonus granted by a paladin's divine bond or a magus's arcane pool stacks with existing weapon bonuses. Does it stack with the bonus to attack of a masterwork weapon? Neither ability specifies magical bonuses/enhancements. The character is for PFS.
Since it seems to be the time for it, I'll purchase one Alluria Publishing product for the first three members to put it on their wishlist and let me know here.
But the text doesn't specify what type of saving throw the cantrip allows if I cast it to colour, clean or soil a creature or magic item. In some instances I could also lift, chill, warm or flavour such a target. Presumably it does allow a save, otherwise the entry would be "None" or "No (harmless)". Any preference?
Samurai
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: .. A samurai is proficient with light and medium armor.
Fitted Armor: A samurai who purchases a set of heavy armor may take a full day (8 hours work) to have the armor prepared for his use. The samurai is proficient with each specific suit of armor fitted in this way.
Ronin: A samurai who becomes ronin loses the use of the Fitted Armor ability and gains one extra use of Resolve per day.
I'm just groping towards a way to represent the concept without having an "order of the ronin" or giving him more and better pools of Cancel Special Ability tokens.
I'd be grateful for any comments on my unsuccessful submission.
It may have been a bit too classic. The hook is too vague and might leave open the possibility that players will fail to find the adventure. The first encounter may read as random since I left out better ideas that I had for how it relates to the later events.
TIDE OF MORNING
Introduction
Reports have reached the Pathfinder Society of a madman under the care of a hospice in the river port of Bellis. Found wandering in the woods, no trader recognises his northern accent and he speaks familiarly of events centuries gone. "I return!" he gabbles, "I return on the tide of morning."
Summary
The Pathfinders take ship to Bellis to discover the out-of-place man's identity and what has caused this state. They learn that the time-lost madman, Huzgin Sellocq, and his fellows were trapped in a mysterious vale by a tree that stole their minds. Back-tracking where he emerged, a strange riverboat takes them into a dangerous borderland of the First World. They encounter the transformed pirate crew, a guardian creature, and the perilous Tree, where they recover the sanity of Huzgin and his companions. Dawn brings an opportunity to escape the garden.
Flowers found in the addled sailor's clothing are green asphodel, a rare herb that grows only along one stretch of the riverbank. In disjointed ramblings, he says he is from Port Ice in Issia (Knowledge (history) DC 15: pirates from former Issia raided the Sellen River 300 years ago). His crew chased a white pirogue at midnight. Where it beached, the man in the moon attacked them, driving them to a tree that took away their wits. Huzgin jumped into the river when dawn came and swam to shore.
Blood Deer
Following Huzgin's game trail, the characters glimpse a white hind drinking at a stream and running strongly through the forest. As they sight the river, the deer steps into their path, showing red pointed predatory teeth, and attacks. This fey creature foreshadows the otherworldly dangers ahead.
1-2: Dire weasel
4-5: Dire weasel (6HD)
Midnight Voyage
At the appointed hour, a white vessel guided by a silent fey maiden glides shoreward, waiting a hundred heartbeats for any travellers to board. If attacked, the steerswoman is insubstantial (as a shadow) and flees across the water, while the boat continues on its way. As it courses out of sight of shore, lithe figures swim alongside, beginning an alluring song to entice the Pathfinders to jump into the water.
1-2: Nixies (2)
4-5: Nixies (3)
Fox-Headed Men
As the Pathfinders step onto a pebbly beach next to a drawn-up river-galley, figures dressed in archaic garb, with the heads of foxes, bound from the blackberries. These are Issian pirates reduced to a bloodthirsty animal state.
1-2: Baboons (4)
4-5: Baboons (8)
Watcher
Among the moonlit apple trees and thickets, heaped leaves stir, as if in an unfelt gust, swirling up into a mass with a half-formed face that reaches to enfold intruders and befuddle their minds with imbued spells.
The Watcher carries unconscious characters to the Tree of Wits. If killed, the Watcher reforms at dawn.
1-2: Gelatinous cube
4-5: Chain devil
Tree of Wits
The branches of this 15-foot-high fruit tree hang with clear, shining gems (1-2: five gems, 4-5: eight gems). Any character who touches its living bark or leaves must make a Will save (DC 14) or lose his wits, becoming a fox-headed man with the character's current hit points which attacks the party, as another gem grows from a branch. The gems are razor sharp, cutting through skin and leather at a touch (1d10 damage), but each drops easily from the branch once it contacts blood.
Conclusion
Each gem brightens as it approaches the victim whose wits it contains and, touched to that person's skin, disintegrates, returning him to human form and sanity. Gems whose owners have died retain their souls (as trap the soul).
Twelve hours later, the sun rises just above the horizon. It sets again in ten minutes for those on shore. If the Pathfinders take one of the two boats or swim out, the sun remains in the sky while they are on the water and they soon reach the earthly Sellen River (if taken, the white vessel vanishes at that point). They have been gone two days, doubling for each dawn passed in the valley. Fox-headed men taken from the garden regain their form, but not their sanity, when they return to Golarion.
Cutting down the Tree or sinking the white vessel ends its visits. Otherwise, it visits the Sellen River irregularly, carrying anyone who boards at midnight to the First World, where any who pass the Watcher can take a path rising from the head of the valley into unknown places beyond.
This is what I submitted with another author for #22, though we didn't get in. Any comments gratefully received:
Spoiler:
Pathfinder Society Scenario #22
Footprints in Stone
Introduction
An age-old tale relates that as the living god Aroden passed westwards into the unpeopled wilds of southern Avistan, he marked the rock itself on a lofty mountain with his tread. The Pathfinder Society has received a copy of a manuscript that locates Aroden's Footprints close to the village of Fledval in eastern Cheliax, north of Brastlewark and southwest of Pirren's Bluff.
The bitter recent past of Fledval complicates the Pathfinders' efforts. A new overlord, backed by a mixed company of veterans of the Goblinblood Wars, has brought to the countryfolk the cruel and paranoiac politics of Egorian. Even the war hero Raji Madrotha was unable to prevent the interrogation and execution of an Andoran, Detter Nevesax, under his command. Despair now poisons the lives of Fledval as the gods of war turn aside from the dishonor of their followers and a grim being unleashed by the Vudran deities of Madrotha's ancestors haunts the hills.
Summary
The PCs find the villagers of Fledval strangely resentful and close-mouthed. They say only that the Pathfinders should leave the hills alone or monsters will tear them to pieces.
An attack on the outskirts of the village allows the party to gain the villagers' gratitude.
The Pathfinders confront the fiendish Beatific One and its extraplanar allies. A final difficult climb to a mountain crag leads to a supernatural Sentinel, dispatched by Iomedae to guard the sign of her lost patron.
Encounters
Chapel of Iomedae: These Andoran expatriates are far more concerned with noble perquisites than good deeds and consider the Pathfinders' presence an insult to the fighting prowess of the village's men-at-arms. Their preceptor Praten Ramenos hides a shameful incident of cowardice in the Goblinblood Wars.
Shrine of Erastil: The halflings Laree and Antwan (offspring of an ex-slave who planned to make a better life in this remote village) hide, running away if chased.
Day 2: The halflings approach and talk unless harassed earlier.
The Paracount: Myzant Phothar, author of "Antiquities of the Upper Keld", is an indiscreet and inept functionary, made threatening only by the dread forces backing him. Phothar suspects the party of plotting against him.
Day 2: The Paracount's attitude improves as he hopes that the party might solve his problems without effort from himself.
The Pawnbroker: Madam Nadja Kantune is a far more skilled devil-binder and has her hooks deeper into the populace than the nominal ruler. If threatened, she slides safely to a prepared vantage point and dumps the party into a stone-walled pit in front of her half-orc fighting-slave.
Militia Barracks: Gripped by remorse, darkly enthralled by Madam Kantune, longing for the grieving widow Cantae Nevesax, Captain Madrotha spends most days brooding and drinking.
Day 2: Madrotha leaves the village overnight.
A Beast from the Mountains: Near sunset of Day 1, screams and animal roars alert the party to an attack on a goatherd returning from the hills (fiendish warthog (dire boar))
Foothills: Xill rove ethereally and plane walk in to slay those they meet.
Ruined Monastery: (5-7) Raji Madrotha emerges to fight the Beatific One (Pathfinder #9) with the party. (8-9) Beatific One and 3 fiendish buffaloes (bison). The Beatific One dances across the backs of the three buffaloes to attack over a wide area.
Peak: (5-7) Climb check (8-9) Add falling boulders. If the party killed any village inhabitants by dishonorable means, Iomedae's Sentinel (half-celestial paladin) challenges them to fight. If they helped any villagers to regain their honor, he welcomes and rewards them. Otherwise the Sentinel is neutral and questions the Pathfinders on their identity and motives for seeking the holy Footprints.
Conclusion
If the Pathfinders succeed, Iomedae's favor grows for Fledval. Trade flows more freely, helping to spread the corrupting influence of Madam Kantune. Scholars show a brief interest in the Footprints, though the isolated village attracts few pilgrims. With increased traffic, many of Erastil's followers depart the region for Isger or Andoran.
If the Pathfinders fail, the Beatific One's depredations embolden the Chitterwood goblins to invade, turning the upper Keld into a murderous disputed frontier on the borders of Andoran. Paracount Phothar and Madam Kantune accuse each other of summoning the dark being and share an execution pyre as they incur the displeasure of the Hellknights. The Footprints fade from human memory as Aroden's influence slips a little further from Golarion's history.
Myself and my prospective co-author would be very glad of any critique of our unsuccessful pitch for #21:
Spoiler:
The Eternal Obelisk
Introduction
In the foothills of the Zho, a long-forgotten ruined settlement harbors a cult of Rovagug. At the centre of the ruins still stands the Eternal Obelisk, a sentinel of Sarenrae's light against the encroachment of a foul, gray slime: a living weapon of aboleth origin that has afflicted the cult's medusa leader to require frequent immersion in cool, fresh water.
The werehyena cultists raid Sedeqi caravans destined for Gurat. They emerge from the sands, howling and cackling as they slaughter the guards and merchants, and carry their plunder off to their lair.
In a recent attack, an experienced guard feigned death and escaped notice. Determined to avenge his comrades deaths, he tracked his assailants until he saw that they led toward a bright light in a distant valley, burning like a grounded star. Satisfied that he could retrace the route, he returned to the riverhead encampment and told his tale. Word has reached the Pathfinder Society and a party is to be sent from Sedeq to investigate the light.
Summary
Guided by the surviving guard, the PCs travel to the riverhead in the Zho mountains, a large merchant camp and staging point for the trade route to Gurat. At the camp, they get into a fight with an evil slave master.
The PCs then travel by camel into the Zho foothills. They are attacked by a gang of dust mephits when they must take cover from a sandstorm.
Finally, the PCs find the light and reach the ruins. A tall obelisk with a burning star at its point stands atop a subterranean complex of unclear purpose at its centre. Here they must defeat the werehyena bandits before entering the shrine of Rovagug beneath the obelisk. In a series of well chambers, they face a werehyena priest, the waterbound medusa, and the gray slime.
Encounters
Qadiran slave-trader
Roarkati, an arrogant and cruel sorcerer and slave-trader, takes an instant dislike to the PCs. His attempts to intimidate and embarrass them inevitably lead to a confrontation with him and his brutal thugs and skeletal guards.
Sandstorm and dust mephits
On the southern trade route, the PCs must locate shelter from a sudden sandstorm or face a much more difficult fight with an aggressive gang of dust mephits.
Bandits and hyenas
In the ruins of the forgotten settlement, the werehyena bandits and their hyena followers watch over captured slaves and loot.
Werehyena priest
Around the obelisk is a complex of cool, dark underground well chambers, turned into a shrine to Rovagug by a werehyena priest. The first well has been corrupted into a pit of filth.
Waterbound medusa
Blinded male slaves are kept in the second well chamber for breeding with the waterbound medusa whose attempts to reproduce non-afflicted offspring are failing. Her well chamber is littered with her broken egg shells and the petrified remains of the human foetuses they contained, as she has not succeeded in breeding a young medusa.
Sentient gray slime
Beyond the well rooms, closed off by makeshift walls of bones and compacted filth, is the Chamber of the Sun. The obelisk has a capstone of crystal which stores and channels the light of the sun and bathes the chamber below in constant sunlight. One day of exposure to the sun provides the crystal with enough energy to illuminate the chamber for one year. Beyond the Chamber of the Sun is a final well room that is infected with the grey slime. The Chamber of the Sun was built to prevent the slime from emerging into the complex as it is destroyed by sunlight. The chamber the slime inhabits is veiled with illusions as a treasure chamber of fabulous jewellery, art objects and other valuables that could have been collected by the bandits over time, luring victims to the slime's dire transformation.
Conclusion
Ending Roarkati's extortionate demands and mistreatment of slaves in caravans that must use the staging encampment brings the party the gratitude of Sedeq and Gurat's traders, redoubled if they also end the bandit attacks.
If the Pathfinders destroyed the cult priest, the medusa, and the pit shrine of Rovagug, the Chamber of the Sun grants remove disease, one time, to each character who enters with an affliction that the spell can cure.
If the characters fail, the followers of Rovagug eventually manage to break or block out the crystal capstone. They soon succumb to the slime, raiding a greatly restricted range but dragging their unfortunate victims back to the slime's transformation.
Starglim Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
I haven't done any work on a villain, for a couple of reasons that I can sum up as "Too hard".
I could work up a group of monsters though.
My only concern is that the contest may reach a stage where it's better to focus on the contestants' ideas without such distractions. Maybe it would be better to lay off at Round 5?
