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Name: Voltlo
Race: Gnome
Class Bloodlust Wizard 6
Adventure: curse of the lady's light
Catalyst: the trap
Details: With half the group still up fighting the carytid columns, the ranger and gnome made their decent down the shaft. He was a greedy bastard so didn't want to wait for the others and instead tried to steal the jewelry from the coffin. He also enjoyed slitting throats of prisoners and enemies that surrendered, so he had a long list of "innocent kills". Well the sadness of the friends and families of those killed was to much for him to bear, so he committed suicide. He pulled out a wand of magic missile and stabbed himself in the chest with it. He then whispered the commanding words and a barrage of missiles tore him apart from the inside.

Did anyone else's group have the misfortune of letting the Magister escape? If so, what was your plan for her revenge?

Thanks for the quick response.

There is an imp sitting on the rails of a balcony that overlooks the area below. He is on the corner where the rails begin to go down the stairs.
XXXXTT
XXSSTT
XXSSTT
XXXDTT

X= floor bellow
S = stairs
T = floor above
D = the imp sitting on the rails

Each letter reresents a 5ft square. Does moving through the bottom left S provoke?

Question: One of my players is attempting to pick up a cursed weapon without touching it. He is using a bedroll to wrap it up. The group is in combat so I wanted to make him use some sort of DC to accomplish the move. What type of DC?

The Weapon: Cursed Corrosive Shortsword of Light - Along with normal damage, it does an additional 1d6 acid damage. Curse: Every time the sword gets a killing blow it glows brighter with rage. The brightness is faint at first (5ft) but with every kill it gets brighter (5ft per kill). When the weapon lands a crit it releases its stored energy with an explosion of acid. The acid is strongest at center point and splashes outward depending on its stored strength. For example if it had 25ft of stored strength the crit explodes 5d6 at the point of impact, 4d6 at 5ft, 3d6 at 10ft...etc. A reflex save gives half damage. DC save to sheath, drop, or give up the weapon is Will 10 + Users HD + Number Stored kills.

The Situation: The group ran into a horde of zombies, eight on the ground, and twelve hanging from nooses in a large tree. APL is 5 with four players and an NPC helper. As you can imagine the rogue with the sword was going around slaying the helpless ones hanging from the trees, alas building a massive amount of "rage". Talk about fun seeing a rogue hoping not to get a crit. He says "I'm going to sheath it and use my other sword." I request a will save of 22, he fails, I tell him he has to attack with the sword, he crits in the middle of 4 zombies, two player summons, a monk, and the ranger's hawk. He passes his Reflex save and with evasion takes no damage, everything else in range dies or is in critical condition (monk 1 hp). On the ranger's turn he disarms the rogue, then the monk bull rushes him away. I tell him he has to make another Will to not go for the sword and he finally passes. Now the ranger is trying to pick the sword up using a bedroll.

I didn't think comical, but that would be fun. They are having a tough time with demons and all evil things happening, it could lighten things up.

We did switch to the Shattered Star adventure path, so that would work.

As of now it's a green lightly glowing corrosive short sword. The corrosive adds 1d6 acid damage. Every time it gets a killing shot or a crit the glow gets brighter. At the time that it was available to my player it was too OP (level 1), so to try to discourage him from taking it I had an NPC tell him it was cursed. Surprisingly, four levels later, he has gotten his first kill shot with it, but not a single crit.

What I need is some good imagination on what will happen when it gets X amount of kills or crits. Or a percentage cumulative or not that activates said happening.

There is always the couple of people who say, "then why did you let him take it" so here's the story on that. They were to be saving a level 6 NPC at the time, but instead they stayed back. They are very weary of NPCs in the wild, and most of the time are over paranoid. The creatures attacking the NPC kept getting insanely lucky crits so after defeating the baddies she had low hp. They finally conversed with the NPC and the sorcerer said Eff it and magic missiled her. Luckily it was by a river so the rest of the gear was lost.

I have an all new player group that started with Skulls and Shackle's, they made it through the first book and just finished squibbing their first ship. Once they ran into their first enemy ship they felt that adventure path was too open ended and that they all agree that they want to run a more "on the rails" adventure. I gave them a list of the paths I had and Shattered Star was their choice.

They are about to hit level 5 and don't want to start fresh. So my question to people who have ran the first few books is: where can I slide them in so I don't send them through the first book all OP. Or shoulld I let them walk through everything. I want them to do a few quick ennounters to get the first two shards then maybe start book 2 off normal.

They are on their way to Magnimar now, so I have some time before they get there.

Hook wise they received a letter to head to Magnimar to help find one of the characters missing sister (Vancasterkin).

I say no.

Ring of Eloquence gives you the ability to speak the languages on the ring.

The curse states that in times of stress you only speak in tongues.

So no matter what languages you know, be it from learning or magically, you can only speak in tongues during times of stress.

A sorcerer wants to summon a creature outside while staying safely indoors and looking out the window. Will this work?

They are hiding from multiple swarms of wasps, in case any one wanted to know.

I started my group out in a tavern. The bar was offered free rum because it was the owners 500th bday. Plugg and some men are already in the bar drinking. They roll fort saves and the lowest passes out first. Slowly they all passed out with the last thing they remembered was Plugg standing over them while they were passing out.

I let them roll, but no matter the outcome they eventually passed out. The ones that don't drink get jumped by an amount of pirates that they know they could not win. They yield or get knocked out.

I am putting parts of savage tide with Skulls and Shackels because my group wants to get to 20. Instead of Lavinia's brother I am making Plugg the antagonist. They played the Wormwood Mutiny up to taking the Man's Promise. Plugg fled in the night to Krakens Cove were I introduced the devastation of the Savage Tide.

The fight with Javell didn't go as planned, the savages got multiple crits and big hits on her so she was left with 4hp. When she was recalling what happened while cleaning off in the tide pool the groups sorcerer Magic missled her. What a loss. I think I tramatized them too much on the wormwood. They don't trust anyone.

If you are using Ultimate Campaign there are rules for everything use ask.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCampaign/campaignSystems/retrain ing.html

Switching class lvls, ability point, and archetypes.

Well holding your breath says that you can only take a move or free action. I think you are right on that, ref, will, and fort saves are free action because something triggers them.

Maglok wrote:

Apologies for the double post, but I was looking into piratical punishments some more and I had a few questions:

First of all the keelhauling, slow is 12 rounds, fast is 6 rounds. A character can hold his breath for twice his CON score if he doesnt take standard/fullround actions. Basically if you are keelhauled slow and you have 6 CON you are fine. If you run out of CON rounds, you still get to make a CON check every round to see if you actually drown. The basic pirate has 11 CON, thus 22 rounds of holding your breath. What am I doing wrong? Or is it really only supposed to be the dmg that do characters in? If anyone can pretty much live through a keelhauling with breathing it is not that scary..

Keel hauling as holding breath is not that scary, but if you imagine a barnacle and razor clam encrusted hull scraping by while you hold your breath. Imagine grating cheese for thirty feet of grater, but here is the clincher, no cheese, all knuckle. Now imagine keeping all your bubbles in your lungs. Shark bait woo haha Gil.

You forget that although you can hold you breath for 22 round, it takes an additional "tick" when you exert yourself. So to avoid the damage you must exert yourself and make a Ref save. You also excert yourself by taking damage.

For example you start with 22 rounds of breath, first round under you make a ref save and pass. Now you have 20 rounds of breath holding left. Next round you make a ref save and fail. Now you have 17 rounds of breath left. -1 for the round, -1 for the ref save, and -1 for the damage.

I have to double check, but I also thought that you minus your breath holding rounds for each number of damage taken.

Bad Accident - Gm decides what happened, but the random npc is dying from the accident. DC 15+APL heal check or the pirate dies.

Bad Weather - A particularly bad patch of weather plagues the area. There’s a 10% chance the weather is devastating. Attempt a DC 20 Survival check. If you succeed, you’ve anticipated the weather and your ship makes it without damage. If you fail, the bad weather damages some of your supplies, and you lose 1d4 points of Goods. If the bad weather is devastating, make a DC 25 survival check. If you pass you loose 1d4 points of goods. If you fail you loose 1d3 plunder and there is a 25% chance a random pirate is lost at sea. Sometimes weather lasts for days. There is a 45% chance of another day of bad weather, this is -5% cumulative for each additional day. Bad weather sailor checks: -5 on pass, -10 on fail. Devastating: -10 on pass, -20 on fail. Cumulative -2 to sailor checks for each day of bad weather.

Brawl - An all out fight between dozens of pirates has started on board, DC 20 intimidate or 1d3 plunder is destroyed.

Burglary - Someone has stolen some potions, scrolls or other magical goods. DC 25 spellcheck. Pass - your magical defenses stopped the culprit (random pirate). Fail - 1d6 random scrolls, potions, or minor items are stolen.

Contamination - Something gets in the food causing you to get rid of 1d100 % of your rations.

Day of Rest - it's a beautiful day and nothing bad happens, everyone is in good spirits +3 Sailor Checks.

Drinking contest - 2d6 pirates decide to have a (rum rules) drinking contest.

Duel - Two sailors have a dispute that must be settled with a duel to the death. You can prevent the duel succeeding at a DC 25 Diplomacy or Intimidate check. Otherwise, you lose a sailor and -1 Moral.

Entertainment Ship - a ship is on the horizon, as you get closer you see a white flag raised. The ship turns out to be traveling entertainment who makes money off of other traveling ships. This ship may be a traveling brothel, a restaurant, a theatre, or something similar. Regardless the crew takes the rest of the day off to enjoy the entertainment. +1 moral. -1 moral if the Captain declines the entertainment.

Escaped Animal - Be it one being trained, transported, or used for food. DC 20 Handel animal to round it up before it does damage, or create an encounter to deal with it. Each failed attempt is -1d6 loss of goods.

Explosion - Crafting goes awry or dangerous regents are spilled. 50% chance of a major explosion (1d6 dead, 1d6 plunder destroyed, 1d7 days to fix the ship), 50% minor (3d6 goods lost).

Festival/Holiday - today is a special day and the crew doesn't expect to work. Force them to work - Diplomacy or Intimidate DC 30. -1 Moral and additional 1 for every 5 under and they work. Or don't make them work.

Fire - somehow a fire breaks out in your storage area. 75% chance of a minor fire destroying 1d10 goods. 25% chance of a major fire doing 2d6 worth of plunder damage. Or create an encounter to put the fire out, dealing damage to npcs, plunder, and ship based on your discretion.

Food/water shortage - miss calculation of food supplies, you must make an emergency dock to replenish storage. Cook makes a DC 20 survival check per day to catch enough fish to satisfy hunger. -1 moral and -15 on sailor checks for each failed. -2 cumulative to sailor checks per day regardless of survival save. Take a day at dock for each lost moral to feast, restock, and rest.

Friendly Competition - Something sparks a crew wide competition. (Climbing the rigging, setting the masts etc) +1 moral.

Good Fortune - For 7 days gain +4 on Sailor Checks

Grand Feast - the cook made an incredible meal (slaughtered an animal, caught a rare fish etc) +5 on sailor checks, +1 moral

Hazing gone wrong - a random new pirate is maimed or dead after hazing, no one speaks up about who the suspects are. Leave it be or flesh out an investigation.

Hearts Desire - Two of your crew are in love and ask permission to take leave for a marriage and honeymoon. If denied -1 moral.

Infestation - Spiders in the bilges, rats everywhere, stirges attack, sharks surround the ship, whatever the infestation is, it's keeping the crew on edge. DC 20 Handel animal to take care of it. -5 sailor checks and -1 to moral until the infestation is done. +1 to the Handel animal DC (max 30) for each day it lasts.

Infighting - ship politics are getting the best of the pirates. This last for 2d6 days unless you make a DC 25 bluff, intimidate, or sense motive check per day. This must be passed 3 times. Until then loose 2d6 to sailor checks per day due to arguments, and fights breaking out during the day.

Jester fun - whoever took Owlbears spot is brought out for entertainment +1 Moral

Lazy Worker - you catch a random pirate sleeping on the job, or being extra lazy and must deal with it.

Mutiny - a random npc challenges for an officer position. One on one duel for the spot.

Mysterious item found - an item is found in some overlooked plunder DC 30 spellcheck to know what it is, fail finds traces of a curse on the item. Create item at your discretion.

Outbreak - Something is making the crew sick. -5 sailor checks until Heal DC 30 is made.

Prosperity - the pirates are happy. For 1d6 days gain +5 on sailor checks.

Quitter - a random pirate (including officer) finds that this is not the life for them or they want to retire. DC 25 intimidate to gang press them back to work (-1 moral because others feel like they are being forced to work) or release them at the next stop (+1 to moral).

Rivalry - the crew comes to an agreement that they don't like the way the captain is running the ship. They choose a random officer to take his place, forcing a rivalry. If the Captain won't step down he/she must pay them off with 1d6 +4 plunder, a DC 25 diplomacy, or a DC 25 intimidate to gain his trust back. Each day of a failed attempt they demand +1 additional plunder. -5 cumulative to sail checks each day of failure or non payment. If plunder is not available the captain is forced to make the checks or step down.

Robbery - the Quartermaster store was robbed, DC 20 intimidate to find a random pirate with the goods, if failed 1d6 +3 goods are lost.

Rumormongering - Rumors are being spread about an officer. That officer must make a DC 20 diplomacy check to spin the rumor into their favor. Pass +1 moral, fail -1 moral.

Scandal - Some sort of scandal strikes your ship - an affair between an officer and pirate, a destructive prank or dangerous hazing, or the like. The scandal’s repercussions last 2d4 days. During that period, it’s difficult for the crew to stay busy, it takes a –5 penalty on sailor checks. Once per day, you can attempt to repair the damage to your reputation and end the event with a successful DC 20 Bluff or Diplomacy check. Failure extends the duration of the scandal’s fallout by another 1d4 days.

Sickness - A flue/fever is going around. -2d8 sailor checks for 2d6 days or DC 20 heal check to get it under control.

Small ship problem - there is a small leak, a rudder snapped, broken bilge pump, etc. that needs repaired. -2 to sailor checks until it's fixed. To bad what you need is not on board. There is a 5% cumulative chance per day that it gets larger and causes an additional -2 to sailor checks. The ship must make an emergency dock for 1d4 days to fix it.

Spoiled Pirate - a random pirate thinks he deserves more than what he's getting, he demands a 3% raise or causes a ruckus. No matter what you say he secretly complains giving the crew a -1 moral.

Sweaty Pox - Some sort of pox is spreading, it last for 2d8 days. -5 on sailor checks, 20% chance per day that it's -10 due to more pirates being sick. DC 25 heal check per day to stop the infection.

Unstable Mutagen - an alchemical mishap has caused a distraction. -5 on Sail Checks for the day.

Uprising - swabs want new jobs or they are going on "strike". -5 on sailor checks until it's figured out (higher pay, switch up half the workers jobs, DC 30 diplo or intimidate check).

Violence - 60% chance this is just a simple fight between 2 pirates, requiring a DC 20 diplomacy or intimidate check to relinquish. 40% chance that it is a violent attack requiring intervention.

Weather in your Favor - +10 Sailor Checks

Wild Night - your pirates partied a little hard last night causing destruction of 1d3 plunder and a -2d10 to sailor checks due to hangovers and soreness.

I created this to help people with events while traveling on the ship.
Info:
- First I use http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2p54b?Naval-Combat-For-a-Whole-Party#1 for additional rules.
- I use Ultimate campaign for downtime.
- Pirates are paid a % of sold plunder each. Currently in my group some npc officers demand 5% each, while no name npc pirates get 1%. These adjust based on performance, (depending on their demands).
- moral bonuses reset after a battle.
- I use food rations. The amount of rations per day per pirate is up to the Cook or Captain. 1 per day = -1 moral. 2 per day is normal. 3 per day = +1 moral
- Added a downtime action of fishing for the cook. He makes a survival check and his outcome is the number of food rations replaced.
- 10 goods equal 1 plunder.
- When the pcs map out where they want to go I figure out how far it is in miles and this is their total Profession sailor checks they make until they get to their destination. The sailing master makes the check each morning. If he focuses on something else during the day (downtime/crafting) he doesn't get his bonus on his check. Other pcs may aid the check for +2 as a downtime action. Every 5 pirates above the ships minimum grants a +2 to Sailor checks. For each 1 below the minimum -1 to the checks.
(Example: the crew wants to go 30 miles to their next destination, they need a total of 30 profession sailor points. Day one the sailing master makes his d20 Profession Sailor roll +3 (what he is trained). Two pcs use their downtimes to help give a +4. They are running at normal capacity of 20 pirates so get no additional bonus. Best case: He rolls a 20 + 7 and they are almost there in one day. Worst case: He rolls a 1+7. So to get the 30 miles they will take 2 to 4 days.)
(Also debating on making the Shackels larger scale wise, maybe making the 50 mile scale to 100 miles. Giving more time at sea between destinations)
- It is possible to end with a negative number in their sailor check. If this happens they are lost at sea (normal rules).
- There is a 20% chance +5% per day of an event taking place. Resetting to 20% when an event happens.

Ship events.

1-2 Good Fortune
3-8 Day of Rest
9-12 Weather in your Favor
13-37 Random or scheduled encounter
38 Festival/Holiday/Occasion
39 Contamination
40 Friendly Competition
41 Unstable Mutagen
42 Duel
43 Explosion
44 Scandal
45 Outbreak
46 Spoiled Pirate
47-48 Robbery
49 Hazing Gone Wrong
50 Brawl
51 Mysterious Item
52 Drinking Contest
53 Grand Feast
54-55 Jester Fun
56-57 Uprising
58 Mutiny
59 Hearts Desire
60-61 Sweaty Pox
62-63 Wild Night
64-65 Prosperity
66-67 Infighting
68-69 Lazy Worker
70-71 Small Ship Problem
72-73 Rumormongering
74-75 Food/Water Shortage
76-77 Bad Weather
78-79 Violence
80 Fire
81-82 Bad Accident
83-84 Infestation
85-86 Burglary
87-88 Rivalry
89-90 Sickness
91-92 Quitter
95-96 Escaped Animal
97-98 Entertainment ship
99-100 Roll Twice

I have been adding, taking away, and adjusting some events. You don't know how they work until you try them.

Wow, yes please. Jwatanabe@nnu.edu

But the point is to instill fear and hatred into your players. If they take 10s and Plugg and Scourge never beat them then what's the point?

With 20 out of 22 checks only requiring a DC 10 to pass, taking 10 does not look like the writers' intentions. If that was the case the players would almost never fail their jobs that they were gang pressed and forced to do.

Side note - I pre-rolled all the shipmates jobs too. The checks changed based on who they were working with. Hostile -3, unfriendly -1, friendly +1, Helpful +3.

The first one is to promote the evil side. When they kill an opponent they get bonus xp for an overkill. For every 1 hp they get 10 xp. For example when a pirate submits at 2 hp and they decide to kill them, hitting them with 10 dmg and leaving them at -8hp, this gives them 80bonus xp. It seems like a lot at first but by the time they collect thousands of xp this isn't much. Plus I have 5 players so it helps not having to bump up the CR or force more random encounters.

The second is because we kind of hate rebuilding characters so we have a injury/death chart. When a character reaches 0hp they roll on it. The roll is 1d20 + heal bonus + con bonus + their current negative xp. So the bigger the hp loss the more likely the major injury or possibly death. The roll outcomes are as follows:

1 or less. Death
2-7 permanent ability loss. 2. Str. 3. Dex...etc. (loss of limb str dex, knocked out teeth Cha, poked out eye, major concussion int, wis) The amount of the loss depends on a 1d6 roll.
8-13 major ability loss. 8. Str 9. Dex...etc. (major cuts, broken bones, fat lips, black eyes) The amount of loss is 1d6. These heal slowly over time, not like normal ability point heals. These I require two Fort saves in a row to heal 1 ability point. The save is equal to 10+the ability point total loss. For example one of my players rolled and lost 6 dex. The way we played it out in story is that he got stuck in the thigh with a dagger. He attempts a DC 16 Fort save two days in a row to heal 1 dex. Once he heals the 1 point it drops to a DC 15 because he only has 5 dex loss.
14-19 minor ability loss. These are the same only they last for hours instead of days.
20 Now this one you can decide if they just replenish their hp or something like that. It's like you stared death in the face and came out unharmed. Mine I have set up so they then roll a 1d6. 1. Half health back. 2 full health. 3. Adinaline boost they get a free turn immediatly. 4. 2 free turns. 5. They get a turn with a auto crit. 6. They auto kill their opponent.
21+ nothing. Just returned hp

After they roll on the death chart they then replenish hp in the amount equal to their number of HD. For example a level 2 monk would rol 2d8.

This leaves your group open to look like pirates. Not too far in and we got a monk with a limp, a sorcerer with a disfigured nose, and a fighter with missing teeth. We are just waiting to see who gets the first pegleg or hook hand.

Here is how our first "death" went down.
Our monk was at 3hp and was hit with dagger for 6dmg putting him at -3hp. He rolled on the death chart with +2 con,+2 heal and -3 hp, he rolled an 8 giving him a total of 9. This was a major dex injury. He then was unlucky and rolled a 6 giving him -6 dex. Story wise the pirate stabbed his thigh as he was backing away tearing major ligaments. The monk then rolled his 2d8 for his hp getting a lousy 3hp back. The fighter was up next and crit the pirate for 10dmg leaving him at -7 and gainning the group 70 bonus xp to split.

So, not thinking ahead I gave my group a Bag of Holding that they raided from the Man's Promise. For their last night activity they got Grok drunk and robbed the crap out of the quartermaster shop. They successfully stashed the full bag on the Man's Promise and now it's the last morning on the ship. They are already boarding the Mans Promise and they think they are in the clear. Do I let them get away with this or how should I deal with it from here?

Spoiler-

I am running one on Facebook. We are using excel as a dice roller. I will post then they have 8-12 hrs to respond. If they all respond before then then I will continue the story. Facebook is good because they get notification on their phones, I can easily post pictures, and if someone is role playing then we can do it IM. If they don't post then I kind of auto pilot them. Plus when I give them perception checks I IM them and no one else sees or knows what is happening, you can also set up group ims so if more than one person knows something the others don't. This way is pretty fun so far because I got one player coehersing with the hostile pirates and sabotaging encounters.hes a rogue and his stealth check are always to high for the others to even know what is going on. You just have to have players that trust your rolls. But if it is too crazy I take screenshots of the excel sheet and post it in the round. Oh, also facebook groups have a files section so that's were I put the character sheets and all that other stuff.

How does this work sense the person with snatch arrow can immediately throw the weapon back or keep it for later?

When they throw it back does it just vanish?
or
Can the wizard get hit by his own weapon?

Snatch Arrow: Thrown weapons can immediately be thrown back as an attack against the original attacker (even though it isn't your turn) or kept for later use.

Hand of Apprentice: As a standard action, you can make a single attack using a melee weapon at a range of 30 feet. This attack is treated as a ranged attack with a thrown weapon.