Hi customer service, I am still waiting for an answer about the Emarald Spire leatherette edition book missing from my Pathfinder Online pledge reward. Before Gencon I sent three mails that where ignored, could only contact you on the messageboard. I was asked to ask again after Gencon. I did, but my mails are getting ignored again. So its the messageboard again: I am still missing my Emarald Spire leatherette edition from the Pathfinder Online pledge. Could someone please look into the matter? Kind regards Jakob
Hi customer service, I backed the Pathfinder online kickstarter project with the print pack addon. The Emarald Spire superdungeon book was added to my downloads when it became available. Unfortunately the book was missing in the parcels I recieved. It is also missing in the order description. I double checked the kickstarter description- it should be there. So far I wrote three emails to the customer service over the course of three weeks. I did not recieve a single answer nor a solution for the situation (and I checked my Spam folder). Could someone be so nice to check what happened and how I could get my book? Kind regards IDB
Hi Cintra, they are definatley looking for powering heat and light and stuff. Something to make life more pleasant. Adding a huge boost to Loyality is a great idea! I was toying with Economy and the big unrest but Loyality just makes sense. So a test reactor (using some minor devil) could look like this: Test Reactor (18 BP, 1x1): +4 Loyality, +1 Stability, +1 Economy, +3 Unrest. Must be adjacent to a Caster's Tower or a Magical Academy. Adds the following Events to the Kingdom Event Table: "Politicla Demonstration" and "Containment Loss, Minor". Upgrade to Power Plant. I will work on the KIndgom Events this evening and post my ideas here. Thank you and kind regards
Do you remember the devil power plants used in Cheliax and Tassilon in the old times? Council of Thieves (4/6) Rise of the Runelords (3/6) My wifes wizard wants to build one to power the kingdoms kapital city and has some Cheliaxian wizards in her wizards academy. I love the idea because I could work with the rela life nuclear power discussion in the game. And the thing can blow up one day... Problem is, I am not really experienced with the kingdom building rules. One of my players is and will exploit every loophole. Has anyone with a better grip of the building rules ideas how to design a test reactor (maybe for powering a block of buildings) or bigger ones for a district or complete settlement?
I just used Dudemeisters ideas and the PCs met Hargulka in the Sootscale caverns. I played him up as the most eloquent troll ever thanks to the crown given to him by the fairy queen. A few days later the characters stumbled over a Shambling Mound attaching "Hargulkas empire. No humans allowed" signs to trees at the border of the characters kingdom. They had long and fun conversation with the thing, even though it cant speak and I only talked with improvised sign language and groans. Yet another few days later they encountered a troll scout in the south, finished it off with a fireball, feared that the whole troll empire heard the explosion and rode straight back to theyr capital out of fear to get overrun by angry trolls. Now the chars are sending their first army to the south are preparing another one and completely left their construction schedule behind (the player of our king is a project developer for an international facility acquisition company and always has a two year build plan including simulations of build point revenue and progress charts and stuff) and are fortifiying the stag lords fort and the sootscales lair. All the while Ghlaunders rot spreads to one of the kingdoms settlements, but there is no money for the sick anymore. War is coming. I think my players are pretty spooked. Thanks for the great ideas DM!
My wife did take the Beast with her. I asked her to take the Leadership feat. I also removed all the beasts class levels. We treated the Beast as a 7th level cohort. That was a bit to much for the characters at this point but since they where fighting werewolfes the next few sessions the beast did not matter to much. After her character was allowed to have an 8th level cohort she stared adding barbarian class levels. The Beast is a fun cohort. Dumb enough so you can forgett about him in some scenes and always good as the comic reliefe character. We are now in the midst of Ashes at Dawn and so far the Beast was not a problem power wise. He has some neat powers but also some major drawbacks- like not being able to heal through channels or cure spells. This way he always needs extra actions and preparation... I also always play up the reaction of people meeting the giant Beast. My wife coped with that by specialising on the Disguise skill and comes up with better and better costumes the beast can wear.
Hi alltogether, my group just arrived in Caliphas and is already knee deep in the murder mystery of the vampire killings. I also threw some more informations at them and so a few side quests evolved. I already have some ideas for them- but if someone has some ideas I would love to hear them. I always love to add ideas that are not from me, since I am playing with some of the guys for 20 years and they are kinda getting used to my ideas. And since this forum is so full of great ideas: 1. Sidequest: Adrissant City Manor
2. Sidequest: The Ball
3. Sidequest: Havenquard Asylum
4. Sidequest: The machinations of Mr. Low
Fire away! Any idea is appreciated...
@Gauss: Thanks for the determination hint, that was definately something we searched for and will be considered as one of the next things to hoard gold pieces for. Your Paladins Sacrifice idea also helped a lot. I made that suggestion to the player and due to his reaction found out that he doesnt want to be the partys tank and healer even though he should be in the current party constelation. Instead he wants to be the monster slaying Paladin... I think thats a big problem I havent considered before. Since I never had a high level Paladin in any of my groups I did not know that he could be that big help for the current problem... @VRMH: Expeditous retreat is frequently used by my wifes character, the Ring of Evasion is considered even though she wants to track how much of that "killing damage" is area damage first. @Ascalphus: Constitution is not really the weak spot, since its already at 15. She was considering the belt but I fear its not flashy enough. I would have opted for that solution though... @Matt2VK: We really liked your Mirror Image idea. A long forgotten low level spell that should come in handy. Wife happy... @Ascalaphis: She is using invisibility from time to time but cannot rely on it to much because she must be seen by the beast to keep him under control... All in all, thanks for the great suggestions. There are some options my wife can and will check out sooner or later (depening on gp costs) and that already took away some frustration. I also now know that there is a completely different problem with the partys paladin, which might be the real problem we are dealing with. Thanks for all the very quick advice!
VRMH wrote: What's killing her Bard all these times? AoEs? Melee combat? Environmental hazards? All of the above? The first two. She insists on playing her childish halfling that fears nothing and always peaks around the next corner first. The resulting damage was not a problem below 10th level, because it always left her barely living but since 10th level damage output of opponents, spells and effects evolved so much, that she cant make it out of the danger zone , before she is dead. She could adapt her chars behaviour but since she is more of an roleplayer and not a rollplayer this is not really an option and below 10th level thos near kill situation and resuce missions where always the source of a lot of fun.
Hi, we are currently playing the Carrion Crown campaign and my group just made the step to level 12 characters. My wife is currently struggling with her character, since her bard died much to often over the past few gaming sessions. Raise dead has been a good friend of hers lately but last saturday she got increasingly frustrated over the situation. My wife is a solid player and knows the rules but she is not so interested in character optimization. Normally she relies on me to come up with ideas to fix problems like that. My problem is, I never had a character that got so easily killed before and cant offer a simple solution. We have a busy week coming up and I will not have the hours to flip the books and search for stuff until our next game session on saturday. I fear without a solution the frustration will lead to dire consequences... Does anyone on the messageboards has ideas for magic items and spells available to 12th level characters that enhance survivability, in particular when the fast hit point loss you experience at higher levels is concernded? I am not talking about healing potions or +x AC items, I am taling about the real stuff- like a shield other spell in item form. The party consists of a 12th level rogue, 12th level paladin (who plans on using shield other more frequently in the future) and the Beast of Lepidstadt as my wifes bards cohort (leveled down to be the equivalent of a 12th level character cohort). I am happy for any suggestions someone of you might have...
Checking out the messageboards is definitely a good idea, but always remember that the ideas you find there where made up by experienced DMs and are just that: rough ideas. You need quite some experience to deliver such a idea to the gaming group, without preparation. In my opinion preparation is key when you are a new DM specificly when running a rule intense systems like Pathfinder. 1. Prepare to give work away: Plan on having one player taking notes during the adventure so you can always double check what parts of the story the players understood and what not. It also helps the players not to forgett stuff. Plan on having someone be responsible for initiative tracking. There is enough happening during a fight, you dont need to be responsible for this two. Dont argue with your players about those two things. You maybe put hours of preparation into a session, its the least they can do. Designate one player as the rules guy- he is responsible to look up rules- its still your decision how to interpret them for the game. 2. Preparer the rules: If you know particular rules may get important, read them over. For example, during the chase Athletics, Climb, Swim skill rules might be used. Read those rules again and make up some DCs based on the rules. 3. Preparethe monsters: Pathfinder stat blocks can be a complex affair. Check if you will need statblocks from different sources or multiple statblocks from one source. If yes, its probably worth the effort to print each monster to a single page for easy reference. Make a mock up fight between the monsters you might encounter most frequently (Armigers for example). 4. Prepare for players action: APs are a great framework for adventure, but since we are playing a RPGs players might come up with stuff that was not anticipated by the AP. Try to anticipate this and prepare for it. For example: If your group has a wizard he might want to shop for magic materials. Prepare a place where he can do this. Not in full detail, just a few words or sentences to describe it and maybe one NPC without rules, just a general description. Normally you need places for shopping, research, shopping, praying, shopping, socialising, shopping... I hope that helps
I always connected the characters to the Professor and Kendra as did you described. I also tied them to the major problem the group was facing at the moment. For example: A new player joined in the midst of the Shudderwood during Broken Moon. He played an Gunslinger/Inquisitor so we discussed that his firearms where designed by Croon and the Professor and he missed the funeral since he is on a longer werewolf hunt- hunting the leader of the Deamon Wolfes. I think you could apply this to many situations. The newcomer would just search the same object, monster, location as the existing group.
Here comes my approach to the whole Ardivion Adrissant thing:
I decided that the Beast climbed to the tower through the mountains (he is used to the surrounding countryside). He met waxwood, got told what happened to "father", freaked out and attacked the Promethean. The Promethean nearly killed him, so he fled up to the Bondslave Thrall. His body just ceased functioning when he was nearly there, close enough to get resurrected but not able to start the process. It will be necessary to get through the room with the Promethean, as you pointed out. In my game waxwood pointed out that this Promethean is a real beast, so everyone was very sneaky. Naturally, one of the players failed the move silently roll and they had to "speed reanimate" the beast using Use Magic Device.
The housekeeper was not supposed to be waxwood. I only had a vague idea about a broom swinging thing, that's always in the way of spells and strokes. I wanted to improvise, but since my players never really went into the building I did not had to ;-) It was quite obvious to my players they had to resurrect the Beast using the metal apparature. They already had figured out that you need electricity to start a flesh golem and the beast was frozen in the try of reaching the metal apparature. The CWS did indeed not attack the characters- since they politely knocked on the door using a door knocker that was provided there. If they would have smashed the door the CWS would have been very angry about this, like when a bunch of kids destroy your window with a football... It would never have attacked though, because that would be rude and way to dangerous
Ullapool wrote:
I was absolutely determined to use a real chalkboard and some chalk but the birth of my first child somewhat screwed preparations... I handled the whole situation with Linguistics checks. This way some of the players could bring one of the less important skills on theyr sheets to bear. Ullapool wrote:
In my imagination he was something between Mr. Smithers and Homer from the Simpsons. The episode where Homer is the assistant to Mr. Burns maybe describes my version best. Gir from Invader Zim is also a good example, though WaxWood was less destructive and hectic.
My Vorkstag was imprisoned by the characters but escaped before his process when the characters where away in Castle Caromarc. He now killed Kroitzer from the Ascanor Lodge and is following the characters. He will very soon find out that the PCs are to much for him to deal with. Today I had the idea that he heard what the characters did in Harrowstone before. He will travel back to the Prison to ressurect Hean (who also has a personal grudge on one of my PCs) and both will return to hunt the PCs.
The chalk writing thing (cwt) was naturally very much concerned with good manners. It offered a full banquet to the PCs to befriend them in the hope to have them search for the Count. It would constantly write the name of the next course on its chalkboard, interrupting the discussion with the PCs. It also tried to seperate the groups female halfling from the half orc and the human warrior after bedtime and raised general concerns about a "young girl" travelling with such "rough companions". It also took every effort to keep the PCs out of the Counts room. This nearly turned into a fight in the first place and then in a very long discussion on how how the Counts personal belongings could help with rescuing him. CWT took a very close look on what the PCs where removing from the master's bedroom. Mr. TicToc consisted of a Golem torso and a head, with a clocks pendulum hanging out of the torso. Because he was very talkactive the Whispering Way had gagged the head and stopped the pendulum. After some time the Pcs removed the gag and started the pendulum again. They found out that Mr. TicToc was very talkactive and considered himself an "Intelectual". The bad thing was, that he only had a memory lasting for a few minutes prior to the time that was set on the clock. When the PCs set the clock back he could talk about the Whispering Way, meven though he mainly complained about their rude manners and obviously missing education. CWT and Mr. TicToc had some sort of rivalry between them. Mr. TicToc considered the CWT a show off, with all his good manners and is inability to speak. CWT envyed Mr. TicTocs knowledge and higher education. Both where pretty sure that they where the Counts most favorite construct. Generally all the constructs where afraid the Count could favour someone else over them, while already knewing the Count only had love for his deceased family. CWT even suggested the characters could take Mr. TicToc with them bound to the fighters back to get rid of his rival. I also had imagined a janitor thing in the museum. While writing this I can imagine that such a construct would be more appropriate in the zoo, trying to clean up all the water the Whispering Way put into the area. If the PCs can help it with cleaning up the mess he could get a minor ally. The guardian of the tower was the artist experiment. Before the Whispering Way had appeared it had prepared an exibition of its newest paintings and turned mad when the Count did not showed up and the Whispering Way cultist had no words of appraisal for his works. The groups bard managed to calm down the creature at first with a briliant monologue about art but then the groups fighter got nervous and the guardian had to die. I portrayed WaxWood as the worst and piteous possible assistant ever- I couldn't otherwise after imagining him sneaking up to the Count feeding him with insects. He basicaly was an experiment on self esteem gone wrong. But he could tell the PCs something about the magical amatures on top of the tower. Placing pictures of the Counts family (with faces erased or cut out) throughout the castle put the PC's on edge first but when they left the first building they knew that something very bad had happened in this man's live. WaxWood dropped a hint that the Count had mentioned that the mob had killed his wife and child in the lands uprising and at this point it became clear to the PCs why the Count had done what he had done. After they realised what tragic fate had befallen the Count there was no need for an discussion if the Count was an evil man anymore. After the fight against the Promethean (who was a failed final experiment on divinity- wich the count believed rests in every man and woman) I ruled that the Count was beyond resuce due to his injuries and starvation but mainly because he had given ip living after he realised what monstrosities (mainly the Promethean) he had created and that he never would turn his family in such creatures. Hope that helps
Thanks for the great feedback. I really appreciate it (Honestly, it made my day)! My Caromac was really focused on bringing back his daughter and wife, both had been killed in the lands uprisal against the Count. Since he had lost in faith in the gods he wanted to restore them through more "mundane" means. He practiced creating human behaviour in his creations. The beast was created for human feelings, Mr. TicToc was aa subject on memory, the hobbling hook-clawed apparatus for good manners, Waxwood was an example for companionship... I also used one sarcastic comment from the messageboards on the portrait in G3. Someone suggested that maybe the four armed Guardian of the tower had painted due to its high level of detail. So the Guardian became a test subject for creating a sense for art. He always depicted himself in a minor detail of each picture (I placed several more in the whole castle). Some of the pictures depicted the Count with wife and child- but the Count had erased their faces in every picture. Put my players (especially my wife) on the edge. In the final scene of the adventure, Count Caromarc died after he was released from his prison, while the characters where switching off the apparatures that contained the corpses of his wife and child or tryed to ease his suffering. Possibly the most touching moment in many years of role playing. Alltogether we had a blast with the adventure. So far it is the best AP adventure I ever mastered. We had great scenes in the court, and my wifes character really connected to the Beast. At some time I was not allowed to describe atrocities against it anymore, because my wife always started crying when she heard that someone had treated him badly. She now has a downgraded Beast of Lepidstadt as a Cohort and Vorsktag has become our reocurring villain in the campaign. Currently he is that shadowy presence in the Ascanor Lodge. A real Masterwork from Mr. Pett. You really have to make him write more adventures.
I just wanted to share some ideas to make Castle Caromarc a bit more roleplaying intensive. Since my approach worked out perfectly with my group I thought others could be interested. I took some ideas from the Disney movie "The Beauty and the Beast" and placed a number of intelligent creatures in the castle. For example the flesh and steel apparature in the living area was improved to Caromarcs Butler who could only write on a chalkboard using his clawed hands. I also added Mr. TicToc a complex clock built in a Golem Torso including a head. Mr. TicToc was very talkactive, but had a very bad memory that could only remember stuff from the past five minutes of whatever time was set at the clock. Since he talked so much the WW had gagged him. A housekeeper creature was added in the museum area that was supposed to clean the PCs all the time, getting into the way of fights in the most inconvenient times. My group skipped him together with the whole building :-( Waxwood got the ability to speak to help the characters with the clues. Finally I dedcided that the Beast already had fighted against the Aberrant Promethean to resuce his master. It failed and died on its way up the metal tower. Here the PCs had to resurrect him using the apparature before he could join the fight. This solved the problem of the beast only being a couple of rounds away. Hope this is of use to anyone...
I had the intention to add no murder mystery subplot to focus on the main murder mystery. I am going into a completely different directions now... I think I will pick up the idea of the Whispering Way assasin, will also have Vorkstag show up (with some urge for revenge) and then there is Estovian and the Vilkacis- all going after the PCs. I will also have another murderer in the lodge hunting one of the NPC's- creating the perfect cluedo chaos- while severe weather conditions hinder anyone from leaving. The idea of the werebears is also great. My party consits of only three players, therefore they can need any help they need. Going to look up werebears right now! Thanks for the input guys!
We will start playing Broken Moon soon. As the GM I always look for subplots that are loosely connected (or sometimes not connected at all) to the main plot. Spoiler:
For example, in Trial of the Beast I added the first signs of a orc invasion, set up by the Whispering Way to cover their tracks by sending the whole area into chaos. My Problem is: I just don't have any idea what subplot(s) to add in the Shudderwood and Ascanor Lodge area. I though about letting Vorkstag (who was imprisoned) escape and hunt the PC's, but I think it would distract to much from the main plot, where the PC's are hunted as well. So I am saving Vorkstag for later. So if anyone has an idea for an interesting subplot to drop into Broken Moon I would appreciate those.
Posions:
When has the target to check if it is poisened or not?
Thanks
The last one for today: "Der Hakenmann" A race of merman living in coastal regions. They are looking like starved old men with a starved and dying fish tails. Hakenmänner do have sharp teeth because they are eating raw fish or fresh human flesh. They are always equipped with a hook on a pole to catch children who are getting to close to the waterfront. Since adventurers dont fear the waterfront they would be eligible targets as well. The real frightening thing about the hakemann is that they actually live in whole societies and are not lone hunters.
Then there is the Alb. A old and tiny man who would sneak into your house by night while you are sleeping. He would sit on your chest implanting nightmaers into your dream. He would then press unto your chest to get the nightmares out of your mouth to consume. His victims either went mad because of the nightmares or died because their chest would burst. I am just thinking... parents should not tell small children those stories... they are awfull....
My grandmothers house stood in the blackwood in germany beneath an old rocky mountain covered in gloomy forest. According to old legends the wood was inhabited by an old witch who would sneak up to unwary travelers. The witch would jump unto the back of those travelers, cutting their flesh with her long fingernails. She would then whisper into their ears to make those poor folks run or walk forever until they would eventually would walk of the soles of their shoes and the flesh of their feet until they died- or they would simply die of exhaustion. I never liked to be taken on a familiy walk on this rocky mountain... I would like to see such a monster because it could also lead to an occasional chase pitting one character against the others. Could be fun! |
