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He's a relatively new GM and I'm a veteran player. So while I don't want to entirely shut him down, I'm confident in my understanding and I'm trying to explain to him why the entire text in the armor upgrade doesn't apply (because that seems to be what he's hung up on.)
I'm having a bit of a disagreement with my gm about the Thermal Regulator (the item, not the armor upgrade.) We're understanding the rules differently and I'm hoping for some clarification here. Thermal Regulator (item): A thermal regulator unit works like a thermal regulator armor upgrade. However, the unit is a harness you wear with temperature regulating fluid and a belt-supported pump and power unit. The harness and belt unit can be worn under armor, but they have an independent power source. A thermal regulator unit can use any sort of battery, and the unit has a usage of 1 per hour or a fraction thereof. Thermal Regulator (armor upgrade): While activated, a thermal regulator reduces the severity of dangerous temperatures by two steps for its wearer. For example, severe cold becomes comfortable, while extreme cold is reduced to cold. A thermal regulator can be set to protect its wearer from cold or heat, but not both simultaneously. The regulator consumes the attached armor’s environmental protections, but at one-quarter the rate of having protections fully activated. From what I read, the Thermal Regulator (item) gives you the benefits of having environmental protections without having armor, just powered by a battery. It can be worn under armor and still function, using the battery instead of using the armor's environmental protections.
Some clarification would be great!
Thank you! I'll read over chapter 3 then. I'm working my way through reading the entire AP, but we will probably start before I get the chance to finish reading it. So I didn't want to make he player wait to see if his background was conflicting until after we already started the game.
Hi all. I'm about to DM Curse of the Crimson Throne. Spoiler: I haven't read the full adventure yet and I'm just looking for ideas here from people who have played or ran the adventure on how to best incorporate this player's ideas in a way that is fun and not destructive to the campaign plot. I have a pc who wants to play a Dhampir Vigilante. He belongs to a matriarchal society and is looked down on for being a male half-breed. He wants his family to be among the nobility in Korvosa (though nobody knows they're vampires) and he takes up a vigilante persona to disguise himself from his family while he attempts to prove himself to them by gaining power with his end goal to take the Crimson Throne himself and rule Korvosa. I think this is really cool and by all means I want to reward his creativity. Would it harm the adventure if Ileosa was a vampire all along and he knew? Or perhaps his family is just a rival family of the Arabasti family?
I see what you're saying, and I agree with your points. Maybe outright outlawing adventuring was a bit too harsh. I was more so meaning somewhere unlikely to breed adventurers, or less likely than other places. Which, from a business standpoint makes no sense (why would such a place exist in a game about adventuring?) And the player's will be working together. I just also want there to be a strong sense of individuality.
Golarion is huge, and while I'm a big fan and trying to study up on every aspect of it that I can, I'm far from a master...
I don't have a ton of experience with the Occult classes, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever run into it.
The example sorcerer can't, because miracle isn't on their spell list. Change it to Wish, though, and yes. Yes to the Wizard example, too. It's why a paladin or bloodrager can use wands from level 1. Oops! Wish was the intention there. I'll edit that now. And that really improves the versatility of spontaneous casters! I can't believe I haven't realized this until just now.
It's recently been brought to my attention that I may have been using the rules for wands and scrolls wrong the whole time I've been playing pathfinder (about 3 years.)
I think the keys are just a way to railroad this crazy AP that basically warps you from one place to another.
Ironically, this same Cleric inadvertently killed the family in the tree thanks to a natural 1 roll on his climb check. I would've made it clear to everyone that there was a really nasty feeling coming from the Eon pit that even those without detect magic could feel it. I had even considered Jadrenka coming in and casting an age resistance spell on them before venturing down there, but he specifically said "I jump into the Eon pit and Featherfall down before anyone can stop me." (Maybe more of a selfless/heroic act than a foolish one.) But he's now been left with 42 hit points.
Not a death as of yet, but might as well be. After 5 rounds in the Eon Pit our poor cleric (Brother Brecken of Sarenrae) aged 53 years and now has a 4 in both his Dexterity and Constitution scores. He still has his spells, but there's little hope for his survival during the first challenging encounter.
Have an Animal Reincarnation spell scroll be in a treasure stash. The effect is that the animal is brought back as a random other animal companion. :) Wonderful idea! Can't believe I didn't think of that immediately. *facepalm What, no armored polar bears? He said that he was trying to avoid the Golden Compass references. I can understand.
Our ranger's badger companion was just slain and he wants to replace his animal companion (when he got the animal companion he insisted that he just walked into the forest and found an armored badger, thought it was cool, and brought it back the the camp and it's been following us ever since) But seeing as we're currently in Artrosa, and there are no animals to be found that isn't really possible. So is he out of luck? Or are there some animals in the area that could conceivably be in Artrosa?
I've made the mantle of the rider transferable to other PCs by the original group. As long as 1 member of the original party remains, I've allowed him to "induct" new riders. If we get a full TPW, which has nearly happened, I'll have to think up something new. I've done something similar. Running with five people (had one drop out so he withered away in Whitethrone.) The new PC was using the mantle of the Red Rider, but he was just recently killed in Artrosa. With four of the original PC's remaining, if they come to trust his new PC and induct him into their "inner circle," I'll allow them to pass on the geas to him. Giving him the mark of the black rider and the +2 ability score.
This AP surely isn't a "kick in the door" style of campaign. It requires tactics, likely lots of resting, and maybe even some DM intervention in cases where these aren't possible. My players have been having a lot of fun with this AP, despite its difficulty. Coming off of Rise of the Runelords, which is quite easy by comparison especially through the first two modules, they were quite surprised to be consistently facing enemies 2, sometimes 3, CR's higher than the APL. Sure there's times of frustration (seven shadows doing strength damage, the bebilith disarming shields and breaking armor) but I think that adds to the grinding feel of the game. Also keep in mind, the PC's are following the path of the Riders (CR 12-15.) So they should take pride in being able to handle these things being far less powerful than the Riders.
Has anyone done anything not directly written in the AP? I just mapped out some fun encounters with Yellow Musk Creeper Zombie Giants under the control of the 26HD Colossal Yellow Musk Creeper! Also planning on having the PC's encounter a Dread Wraith if they choose to explore the crematorium, and maybe making some type of variant Flaming Flesh Golem to further complicate things (maybe some ash giants too, but CR 11 is a bit weak at this point.) I'm really interested in Shahlaria as maybe even a dungeon after the defeat of Karzoug, but am not really sure how to even begin with this. It sounds like it could be Jorgenfist 2.0 with it being a giant stronghold, but I'd like it to be something more than that. Just wondering what other people have done in this scenario, and fishing for some ideas too ;)
Reach weapons. There's no reason you can't use at spear at point bank range.
I'm running with a party of 5. I didn't change anything. With the exception of some of the solo encounters I haven't had an issue with balance at all. The lack of XP tends to balance itself out.
At least you were successful in making your players "fear" the tree. They saw it and just thought of it as "oh a talking tree that wants to stop us. Let's kill it." They quickly learned it wasn't that easy.
Currently as a player I'm playing:
Other players:
Barrid: Human Archer Fighter 7. The deadeye. Deals nearly as much damage as Wurgoth with his Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim. Doesn't say much, spends most of his time avoiding all the drunken banter and keeping watch in the crow's nest. He is also the childhood best friend of Saaren. There's also a Ninja 7 who's name escapes me at the moment. He's a first time player that is really doing well. He isn't built the best and doesn't deal tons of damage, but could very well be the stealthiest character I've ever played with. Unfortunately he might be leaving the group soon.
Just about to fight Most High Ceoptra in book 6 of Rise of the Runelords. (GM)
So, about to finish my first one! Probably next session.
If they can quickly dispatch the will-o-wisps, the climb is fairly easy. Especially with arcane casters usually having access to Fly and divine casters having Air Walk. The witch tree can be a tough encounter if they do fight it, but it's not as tough as some of the encounters in the dungeon. So if combat does ensue, it's a good introduction as to what awaits them within Artrosa.
How have you survived in the death zone? With Fortitude saves every 10 minutes increasing the DC by +1 each save, someone's obviously going to fail and die. Even elixir of the peaks doesn't function in the death zone. My PC's relied heavily on those to get through Xin Shalast but now that we're ascending to the pinnacle and into the death zone, I just don't see a viable way to get around those saves and inevitable death. I currently have a party of 4: A Paladin, Oracle, Bard, and Fighter. Any suggestions on this? I'm going to be running it tomorrow so any suggestions are welcome.
Yes! Thank you! I just remember that I had read it somewhere before and couldn't ever find it again. For some reason I thought it was a feat...
If I'm not mistaken, I remember reading a feat somewhere that allowed you to infuse your sorcerer bloodline power into a spell, but do less damage with the bloodline power.
I'd highly suggest getting both the Pawn Collection and Varisia: Birthplace of legends. Those are the two things I've used more than anything. Unless you like to show your PCs the entire map of where they're going before they have the chance to explore it, it's hard to recommend the map folio, they're kind of nice for GM use to avoid paging back and forth, but other than that I've not found a use for them. Lastly, the ISWG has the stats for the Sandpoint Devil, which makes for a really fun encounter later on when they're around level(s) 6-7. Other than that, there's really no need for it.
Seemingly, without a bunch of readied dimension doors or something of that like, your party won't get to all of the events. I more-so used this as an intro to kinda say, "Hey, go after these giants for what they did to sandpoint." To give the whole book a bit of a revenge feel. My group (not optimized by any means): A Paladin with a ton of defense, a bard who's a glorified buff-mage, an Oracle (flame) and a Fighter (two weapon warrior) with a two bladed sword. The Bard and the Oracle, along with Sheriff Hemlock and a few guards, took post atop the north wall with bows and magic while the Paladin and Fighter stood to block the gate. They were able to deal with the few giants attacking there rather easily and moved onto the next group (the ones who crossed the river with the dire bears I think.) By the time they finished them off, Teraktinus was already calling off the attack. I really like Longtooth as an NPC. I had him just fly around out of reach and breathe fire on things, then stopped to watch the PC's fight the giants and bears. Impressed with their combat prowess, I had him join them in the fighting in Jorgenfist. (for 1/5 of all the treasure they found.) Having a greedy, cocky red dragon on their side was a really fun and memorable experience
If I were to have to stat up Mhar today (he hasn't been statted yet), he'd be CR 28; right between Bokrug and Hastur. Thank you Mr. Jacobs. You were exactly who I was hoping to hear from! Has anyone attempted to have their PC's gain a few Mythic tiers and face off against one of these ancient horrors?
The RotR book just makes it sound like Mhar would be insurmountable if Karzoug successfully summoned it. Then goes on to suggest fighting the Oliphaunt as if it's an easier task. There's no stats for Mhar anywhere correct?
I just recently purchased the Mythic Realms book, primarily because it finally stats out the Oliphaunt of Jandelay. After Karzoug is defeated/killed I was planning to continue to level 20 and have it culminate with a world saving battle vs the Oliphaunt. I then considered the very real possibility that my PC's will use their usual "run in and destroy everything in our way" tactics against Karzoug and his minions and I don't think that would end well for them in that particular encounter. So that brings up the question: What if Karzoug wins? By the book he summons Mhar, who is said to be a nearly insurmountable foe. The Oliphaunt is a CR30 creature. That's right on par with Cthulhu, who I always thought to be the king of all creatures, putting even the most powerful to shame. But the way that the book makes it sound is that Mhar is even more powerful than the Oliphaunt. Is it possible that something like could even be given a stat block? Or is the summoning of Mhar basically designed to just be the end of the world?
May also wanna check Chimera Hobby in Fond du Lac. I know I (along with a few others) would be interested.
My party just played this last weekend. They enlisted the help of Ten Penny, who drank her potion of invisibility and then one shot crit-killed Rohkar. Very anti-climactic. But, seeing as they were at level 1, wounded, had hypothermia and were out of daily spells/healing this may have been a blessing.
I've been playing RotR with 3 close friends (one works from home, the other collects unemployment, and the third works with me so we have the same schedule) and it's been very easy to get together once or sometimes twice a week. We've only been playing for maybe 4 months and in our last session we cleared out the courtyard of Fort Rannick in book 3. One of the players is unfortunately moving to a different city and will make it hard to role play on a regular basis. In my 10 years of GMing experience, I've found that the more frequently I can run games, the longer they go. Its easier to be more invested in a campaign when you're playing 3-4 times a month than when its just once a month or skipping months all together. My second group is a once a month type of group and it's often disorganized and we spend a lot of time recapping and don't advance very far during a session so the campaigns with them generally fizzle out around levels 3-5.
Thanks for the clarifications :)
This was just hypothetical, my party has ranged ability (magic, bows and the like.) This was specifically asked for running the encounter with the Quasit demon in The Catacombs of Wrath in the early portion of Rise of the Runelords. She has a fly speed of 50ft (perfect) and a wand of magic missiles. What I'm wondering is if she can just fly to the ceiling of the room and fly around out of melee range shooting magic missiles at everyone while they fire ranged attacks at her. It seems plausible, I just couldn't find any clear-cut flight rules in combat.
Hypothetically, Say I have a party of 4 fighters using greatswords and nothing else. If They encounter an enemy with a fly speed of 20ft, can the enemy just fly up 20' in the air and hover there and take them out with ranged attacks?
Yeah, I just looked into that. Sorry, still a bit of a newbie to the whole Pathfinder thing. Do the Paper mini's also have printable bases? Or would I have to purchase bases myself?
I've spent some cash on the minis(more than I want to talk about now...) Miniatures are always so tempting, but I always regret buying them also. I probably have multiple hundreds of dollars worth of them collecting dust in my closet. My main problem is that I don't have many duplicates so I can't make very good use of them. I am tempted to get some of the more major monsters in the campaign. The aforementioned Rune Giant looks pretty cool. Can anyone tell me if the Bestiary Box or RotR Pawn Collection has large sized paper miniatures? Or are they all on a medium scale?
Ah! I almost did forget about the free player's guide! I know that the inner sea campaign setting and bestiary were released also, would they serve any purpose in RotR or is the primer enough?
So I recently purchased the RotR anniversary edition, but I'm also seeing all of these supplements to go along with it.
Also, I have the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's guide, Advanced Race Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Bestiary 1 & 2, Ultimate Equipment, and the Gamemastery Guide. Any other core books or supplements I'll need, or any that you can recommend? I'm not new to d20 roleplaying, but am still fairly new to Pathfinder, (I've only ever DMed a homebrew adventure through level 10) so any advice before delving headlong into this is much appreciated. :)
So there is no "off hand" for a 2 claw attack? Natural weapons are pretty good then!
I'm sure there are plenty of threads asking this same thing, but how is the attack bonus calculated for the full attack action? Say a summoner has an eidolon with 2 claw attacks, a tail slap, and a bite attack. His BAB is +1 and his Str. is +3. His full attack action wouldn't be: 2 claws; +4, Tail slap; +4, and bite; +4? or would it?
That's excellent! Should be just what he is looking for!
He had suggested taking poison repetitively and once he had taken ability burn equal to his constitution score he would be immune, he would obviously need a cleric or something to restore his lost constitution but seeing as we are just starting out I don't want him to kill himself before we really gt the chance to do anything.
I've always been intrigued by the idea of a Blight Druid as the "Ultimate Evil." Vermin empathy is just "crawling" (*wink) with evil, and Miasma (making him sickening just to be near) and Plaguebearer (touching him can cause a disease) would be pretty awesome traits for a bad guy to have. I know you said you wanted to stay away from magic, but if your DM would allow you to give up other class features to take these it could be a lot of fun.
Thanks for the input, I reread the sorcerer bloodlines and the eldritch bloodline feats and I understand them now. I've never had a PC show any real interest in poisons, but he's become absolutely enamored with the poisoner rogue build. I'll show him all of this and see if it is what he's looking for.
That's a good idea, the character is still being made and I hadn't thought of using the race builder to make a sort of "variant poison resistant human." For the bloodlines, do you have to be a sorcerer to select the bloodline feats?
One of the PC's in my game is a human rogue using the poisoner build. He had asked if there was a way for him to gain poison immunity by ingesting different types of poisons. And eventually ingest so much of it that it would make his blood toxic so that he could poison his weapons using his own blood. I'm 90% positive that there are no rules on whether or not this is possible, I'm a fan of the idea but it seems like it would be a rather high level thing to be able to do. Has anyone done anything along these lines or have any ideas for a house rule to allow this?
Thanks a lot for the input! I'll try to get my hands on that Sandstorm book and should be able to find those old Dungeon and Dragon mags if you do find the issues they were in. Much appreciated
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