J PAslawski's page

i am still waiting for mine.

is there a problem with late mail again?

The key difference between the Savage Tide and a 28 Days/zombie plague scenario is that in order to get the Savage tide you need to get bit and survive until the ability damage completes the process.

The classic zombie scenario is get bit/scratched and live or die (both result in a zombie).

The vast majority of creatures they bite, they will also kill. That's a net increase of no savage creatures.

Given the way the Savage virus spreads initially they will certainly kill the majority of things they attack. The loses on the Savage creature side may be replaced by Death throes attacks but with a decreasing frequency as they miss and the target creatures make their saves.

Among the second generation humans, most will get cured before they fall victim or at worst will be quickly slain if they do.

Based on prior history (the fall of the olmans and Kraken Cove) while the Savage Tide is devastating it is a process that starts with a huge impact on the area and then slowly wanes as the Savage population suffers attrition as they kill their potential replacements.

While a Savage T-Rex for example might be a terror, it is very unlikely to pass it on since any creature powerful enough to take it out would probably makes their save or be able to cure it (the party).

I agree on most of these points- but you aren't considering 3 animals- bats, rats, and cats.a bite from one of these animals is not going to kill most creatures- unless they swarm- but will still halp to spread the disease. there are many small predatory fish who could help spread it too. unless traded the death effect for a weak ghoul style paralysis. what do you think?

[spoiler] Ok, so the party was doing "ok" until the fight with vanthrus- then he activated his pearl and farshore was infected by the savage tide.
Now, the pcs have invested alot into the city- my wife is really bummed. i expect the next session to play out like a zombie movie- with the party looking for survivors- then heading for the only whole ship.

How long until the island mainland is consumed by madness? with birds and fish in the area of the bttle exposed it should be pretty quick.
how many miles a day should it travel across the ocean? once it hits a pocket of sea elves or other advanced sea folk- the worlds days become numbered.

The rest of the adventure seems like it will change from stop the production off the pearls- to find a way to stop a speading plague.
how would you all handle this?

one more quick question too, if the pearl is activated by blood, and then hitting a hard surface- how is it not going to be activated in the battle with venthrus? he had it in a easily accessible spot- so- the very act of fighting, and dying will make it likely to activate

Tides Of Dread...
Via Dance of Ruin-
Mazetelan- human Duskblade
Human Mystic Theurge (who's name escapes me)

Against Venthrus

The cleric and Thief from the Jade Ravens

and... GOODBYE FARSHORE! Thats right the town is gone, eaten by the savage tide! now the pcs will need to survive a zombie movie- I am so excited.

got mine in lincoln ne yesterday

Ok, so I am 1 week away from the invasion (real time) and I think I have a cool idea.
As you know, I have had major problems with the fights tactics.
so, I figured out another option that Venthrus and crew moght use- what if he stages the abduction of an olman princess, then aided by the victimized villages warriors- attacks the big olman village? now, he not only gains allies- but farshore loses allies. Then, venthrus waits- sends an emmissary to farshore to negotiate surrender ( venthrus discovers that lavinia is here) and creating a marine blockade. Meanwhile lavinia wins the election and begins discussing options when the emmisary returns...they will lift the blockade if lavinia is surrendered. SO, public interest swings to hand her over (led by maravanchi) and lavinia is taken away.

Now, as soon as the party was able to- they teleported to sasserine and the party cleric spoke with the high priest of Osprem. The church agreed to send 200 troops and lots of trade goods in exchange for a position on the council and leadership of the church (see where i'm going with this?)

so the "invasion" now becomes a war and the party will be the attacker or defender as they wish. and the ground no longer favors the party.
why would i do this? well, my party is about to head into the big fight and they are only 9th level- and it just seems like a better tactic- will maravichi use the new found soldiers to annex olman villages? will venthrus beat him to it?

what is the best way to attack a heavily fortified harbor? a siege

I'm sick of waiting. please send me a new copy now. people in the UK have theirs, I think I should have mine.

ok- so my players don't really have any reason to dislike the scarlet brotherhood- only 1 of them were in sasserine when the brotherhood ruled, and his father was important. ANYWAY-
I decided to toughen up the big battle in tides of dread- but I wanted to be sure that they could handle what I wanted to do- so, I created an encounter with some brotherhood monks who were led by a monk2/cleric1/evoker7. They monks are using 2 very large apelike men (hill giants) to build a structure (a mission outpost).
The monks are not as aggressive as they were written- in fact, they invited the players to eat with them.( the giants were out of sight at this point) well- my wife decided to shoot one of them...no parley, no questions, just murder.
so- monk#1 heals himself, monk#2 casts sanctuary, monk3 and the evoker are not on the scene yet.
So the monks have yet to take ANY hostile action- ( unless you are a fish)- the duskblade decides to kill monk#1. the party cleric used spellcraft to notice the priest had cast sanctuary- he held his action- so long story short- the evoker has like 6 protective spells up and is levitating above a vortex of teeth spell.
dispel magic.
the completely unbuffed evoker is chopped up badly by the vortex of teeth spell.
before he died he had an ac of like 33, reverse arrow, acid and cold resistance 10 and damage reduction- needless to say, the scarlet brotherhood now has a great dislike for the party...it was a sad, sad day.

I will give it 1 more day.

so, 8+6=14. so it's been 2 weeks and I need my fix bad!

set up trip holes- on the beach, holes about 18 inches deep rigged to pin the leg makes tons of them- so the enemies need to make reflex saves to avoid losing a few points of dex ( from sprained ankles) and they are flat footed til they free themselves.

load all the valuables in town into 1 building- rig the roof to collapse-

rent the seven samurai- or the magnificent 7 for

as for the glyphs- they are on an area- the only way to set them off is with whatever criteria is set at creation- it's like a landmine that goes off when thing x is within like 5 feet. could they use it? sure- if they new they were there- and how to set them off.

they cannot benefit from the hallow though- because once again, you need to be thing x( good, lawful, worship god x)

keep in mind that you will need to go back to sasserine and spend alot of money to use these tricks- glyphs are 200gp worth of diamonds each, hallow is 1000+ 1000/ level of the second spell- so this could concevably cost like 6000 gp-

so how to recoup losses? demand it from future trade income.
you are investing in the welfare of the town so if you spend 10000 to defend it- demand 13000 from the city within 12 months. then tack say 15% interest each month thereafter.

if they balk, demand 50% of the profit from all shipping brought in on the blue nixie- basically defer the costs to lavinia- she is your employer- so all the risk should be hers.

But I assume they won't mind just paying you back. whats 3000? especially when you remind them that you can kick start trade by teleporting to sasserine.

um- these effects affect lots of people. Hallow for example effects everyone who eners the area that meets a certain criteria (good, evil, worship god x ect.)

and glyphs are cast WAAAAAAy in advance 9 like weeks or days- they are permanent until discharged.

what it does is allow anyone in the town the chance to activate an area effect spell- thats called team work.

Textiles, spices, booze, slaves, metal bars, slaves, tools, NAILS, glass, paper, medicines, I would basiclly just set up the told into 10 cubes- assign a value to each cube- then allow them to sell at their cost + or - 5 to 30% based on diplomacy checks.that way it doesn't actually matter whats on the boat. but um- slaves are very valuable.

here is one way to simulate the arrows of spell storing-
purchase some cold iron masterwork arrows-
place glyphs of warding all around the city with the key of "cold Iron" ( or what ever)- wait until you are ready to pop some bad guys...fire- and bang. area effect spell- this is a great way to quickly set up protection from evil spells.

Cast hallow as many time as possible.- attach freedom of movement to it (keyed to non evil)- cast entangle or web ...walk in and start killing.

hmmm it seems you can't put spell storing on ranged weapons...

ok then- glyphs of warding ... lots of glyphs of warding- and teleport to sasserine- and invest in a batch of arrows +1 spell storing- you get 50 of them. that is alot of fire power for very little money- make 5 of them vamp touch, a few of them warp wood or wood shape (for the boats) a few fireballs- a few protevtion from evil 10 foot radius ( cast at enemies, move in and watch the chaos), dispel magic, the possibilities are endless.now, divvy the arrows to as many people as possible. tie up innocent live stock through out the town- you can use the live stock as easy to hit targets- of course you don't want to use fire balls in the city...

Have the druid memorize Vortex of Teeth (spell Compendium)- wait til the sailors begin to disembark and hit them with it

Assuming that you are encouraging settlers to Farshore, by offering land, just how big is the island and Farshore is on and are there any native settlements on it?

The Homestead Act gave land rights in lots of 160 acres, but in medieval times it was estimated 10-12 acres was what was needed to support a family. So I was figuring 30 to 50 acres would be an attractive offer to most settlers, some would obviously sell their land rights to set up a business in Farshore itself.

I'm just wondering how big the island Farshore is on and how many 30 acre plots could be marked out.

If I recall correctly- it's about 20 squre miles

I think a tactic that would work quite nicely is to switch things around a bit. Bomb the vrocks into the middle of the town first. That should effectively tie up your PC's until the pirates can make their landing. Instead of having the vrocks immediately go into the dance of ruin, have them run around, teleporting and causing devastation for several rounds and then go into the dance.

That should take your PC's out of the fight for enough time for the pirates to land.

But, the point should be well taken - once the pirates land, the party will be in a nice gauntlet where they will not have time to rest at all. After the vrocks, they could very well have 5 more straight fights. Six fights in a row is devastating. Particularly if the group is relying heavily on spells. There is a very good chance they'll run out long before the end of the battles. And, if you are particularly nasty, let a few minutes pass between a couple of the fights and all those per round buffs go away.

Well, it's on now! the party just made it to farshore, and was begun formulating defensive plans...their first stop? sasserine. also on the plans- sink massive logs and use lower water to stop the ships...and use glyphs of warding- do i know my party or what??? they actually plan on preventing the invasion from ever getting off their boats. ok DMs- here is what i need, any ideas to use that are #1 good, and #2 compltely unexpected. the villains have a spy, and high intelligence and access to lots of magic goodies.- the pcs have resources that are limited , but they have more spells, and an easily defended position- one of my biggest fears right now is the pcs using "hallow on more that just the cemetary-... like maybe 2 other spots as well- and tying protection from evil to it. this will allow the village defenders a place to rally- and provide a place to fight venthrus and the vrocks when they arrive. I have a few ideas in mind that i came up with last night- but, i don't know if any of them lurk here-

1 thing that 1 of the players knows, but doesn't realize- the flag ship is a sight to behold- it is covered in the skin of a great wyrm red dragon, and enchanted. it is a massive thing that was stolen from a navy yard years ago by a bronze dragon pirate captain, then it took a party of adventurers to scuttlecove- the pcs set up shop running a unified thieves guild out of the porphory house they became a major source for slaves in the region. after a few years there was a split- the 2 leaders- Deacon the 3rd and Spyder began an open war- Spyders web of thieves and assassins were beset by Deacons slavers and pirates. My wife is currently playing Spyders daughter. the slavers have developed into the crimson fleet- though deacon was long been dead (unless the leader of the crimson fleet is a halfling). I plan to give my wife a little info that can be used to prepare- the fleet works with demons, they have this badass ship, ect.

hmmmm. what if the fleet were to attack an olman village instead of farshore? or, what if they did it as a precursor to the attack? maybe to force the other villages to side with them? I ran the Zotzilaha adventure early- so, they party has close ties in the nearest village- they would run to it's aid for sure.

anyway- i do not plan on using the point system much, and i would love any and all ideas- thanks for the vrock bit jason!

In my campaign, I have created a feat called "ship mage". It replaces your familiar with a ship- abjuration spells of level 3 or lower that effect you effect the ship, you can hear conversations on other parts of the ship, and sense the direction and approximate distance to your ship- you can also deliver touch spells with your ship...requires the wizard to be 5th level- it is powerful, but very situational. it allows the ship to be basiclly immune to fireballs, magic missiles, missile weapons, ect.

Help! I am just about to end SWW on Sunday. I really don't want to do the abrupt scene change written into the adventure. You know, SWW ends with the shipwreck and HTBM starts with the PC's washing up on the beach. I'd like to give the PC's a chance to act after the ship capsizes.

Why? I loaded the Sea Wyvren with named NPCs and took time to give every one of them a distict personality. It has taken 5 weeks for me to run this chapter. I'd like to force the PCs into making a choice who to save.

My problems? In my party I have: an aquatic half-elf with some extra feats invested in swimming, a duskblade smart enough to by a ring of floating in case he falls overboard in full armor, a fighter wearing the Cloak of the Manta Ray, a PC "captain" with both profession-sailor and profession-shipwright, and a carpenter NPC settler.

Anyone have advice on how to RP the shipwreck without leaving the PCs sheparding a dozen minor characters accross the isle? Also, how can I "discourage" the party from sticking around to fix the ship? Luckily, they captured Purity's Prow and have transfered some repair supplies over there, and they wasted some lumber building a wheelhouse.

BTW, this STAP Rocks! That scene change has been the ONLY complaint so far!

the reef the ship is stuck on is called " Masher Reef" for a reason...have one pop up to start eating the dead- that should convince them to not try and save everyone.

J PAslawski wrote:

A well equipped and magic heavy party should be able to handle the fight with little trouble.

I'm curious as to how the party get well equipped and magic heavy when they left Sasserine at 6th level, and haven't stopped anywhere with a decent GP limit since.

Okay they will probably (assuming single class spellcaster) have access to Teleport at the start of the adventure and it's two hops to Sasserine, but then there is a chance of their characters teleport being off target, in which chase there is a VERY good chance that they will end up dropped in the middle of the ocean without a boat.

they will make many of the items themselves.

i feel for you-

We had 1 player jump in the water ( and quickly die)
another died during the combat. this is one of the toughest fights to date-

Well we have moved on to talking about tactics and that is not really the issue I was trying to address when comparing and contrasting the first and the last scenes in Tides of Dread as well as discussing a check list or timetable of what is happening.

What I'm actually interested in regarding a time table is a table that tells me when events take place presuming the PCs have yet to get around to intervening. In the first battle we actually had such a sequence of events. It was just not centralized so instead of glancing at a chart in the sidebar to find out what was going down you went from encounter to encounter and checked to see if anything important took place this round. Here my complaint is that this is pretty inefficient though a DM could compile his own chart to keep the action moving. I just happen to think that a chart provided to the DM really would have made an excellent sidebar. To make such a sidebar it would be necessary to decide ahead of time what the results of some of these encounters were. However, especially in the case of Hilde Swenton's this is not much of a loss – her encounter is so complex that it really ought to be decided ahead of time anyway..

I also feel that essentially the same thing could have been done to a fair degree with the final battle. Anything that helps the DM run this is probably helpful. Now it may be that there really was no space to deal with any kind of play by play on the final battle and its moot in any case as the adventure is already written. I'm essentially critiquing this so that some thought might be put toward this sort of thing in future adventures**.

Essentially the final battle plays out with almost no direction for the DM. The Vrocks appear 'at the height of the battle'. Not exactly sure what is really intended here nor is it all that clear where they appear - next to the PCs wherever they are? Or at some other location where they do their thing until the PCs arrive to engage them? If so does it matter how long the PCs...

I would say that most of the fight happens at once. discribe various bands of enemies- and let them fight them in the order they choose- while there may not be much chance to rest- this way they can regroup and gain reinforcements from the locals.I would say the Vrocks land and attack the largest group of defenders (from the rear) while they are engaged with pirates- that would be the height of the battle- or when the party goes to assault the ships.. if they split the party up, have them encounter them after a golem fight.

I think it's funny that both people who are posting concerns about this fight are named Jeremy.

And a seasond fighter is just the type to be overconfident, when your a member of the single most feared pirate fleet in the known world. Fear is the Crimson Fleets primary weapon, and it's a powerful one. People rely on their weapons, especially when they routinely don't fail them. So when that weapon does fail them, they are caught by surprise. The Crimson Fleet owns the seas; they bring terror and...

Over confidence is what seperates good soldiers from dead soldiers. you tallied up the clerics- but you forgot about a favored soul, a druid, and the 2 from the party- which means there are plenty of priests. I don't see why the zombie master wouldn't utilize dead dinosaurs- most religious rites are based upon neccessity, and where they live- large protective beasts are very useful.

man, I spent about 15 minutes writing this big thing...then it didn't post.

to sum it up- yeah, these guys are slavers- they want to take people alive. the dance of ruin and a bunch of fire balls are not going to help them - i may make the fireballs subdual.

no seasoned warrior is going to be over confident- not even a chaotic evil pirate. they are attacking a town- defended by people tough enough to to travel to an unknown, dangerous island- by boat ( we all know how safe that trip was) and then to survive for 2 years? no, these pirate should be cautious and ruthless. they know there are adventurers- so they know there will be spells.

my party will use tons of empowered glyphs of warding, a few scrolls of dismissal ( after the evil monkeys-they won't leave home without them.)and a few teleports should get them back to sasserine- to buy 50 arrows of spell-storing- loaded with "demon dirge" from the spell compendium and vampiric touch
holy storm on wands, the high priest of the olman is known as the "zombie Master"- so i see a pair of skeletal megaraptors protecting the flanks of his people. a few, well placed Hallow spells (the dock, the center of town, ect) will give a major boost to the defenders- though it may bankrupt them.

of course- these are all speculation on my part.
Personally- i hope they have to retreat. guerrilla raids on a slavers outpost would be fun!

My players are smart- my wife is a tactical genius. all of them fought in the battle of Brindol ( red hand of doom) along side me- so,they know how I fight. and I know how they fight. I suspect they will pair up and lead groups of soldiers to trouble spots. the duskblade and his thief henchman, the ranger and the priest, and the mystic theurge will for a small group of casters- to fight any major threats and large groups.

keep in mind steve- the party is not the only group of defenders. there may be as many as 400 total people defending the city. and many of them are seasoned adventurers.
they have no clerics either.

Ok, so the party is nearing Farshore. I DM for a group of (currently) 4. I want the battle for the town to be memorable and dangerous- but as it is written- well- it really isn't that tough. A well equipped and magic heavy party should be able to handle the fight with little trouble.
So, I am thinking of making the following modifications-

The pirates will attack from land- under cover of darkness.

The Vrocks will act as ariel bombers- targeting the watch towers with flaming balls of pitch - then trying to take the children of the outpost hostage.

the golems will attack from 2 different directions , each accompanied by a few pirates.

I will change " animate dead" as a known spell to dimension door on the lead Yaun Ti ( the main goal of the body guards will be to look out for approaching enemies- when they are spotted ( if they are spotted ) they will take viper form and hide- hmmmm maybe i should give the sorcerer natural spell...
regardless- they will keep the ship 100 feet out in the water- not 30.

I suspect the party will use lots of glyphs of warding and holy storm.

before the attack- the ememy will have sent a spy or 2 ( probably olman or people from lavinia's ship) and may try to hinder the fortifications - or trying to comprimise the integrity of " the anti dinosaur wall" they may take action to hinder the olman in other ways too- like disease or dinosaur attacks.

I will also allow for the green dragon to be hired (by both parties)

The enemy in this adventure is very smart and should be played as such. they would not try to dismantle all of the buildings- because they want an outpost there. so the golems will limit their destruction to non essential buildings ( library, temple, small residences, cemetary).

By the time they fight Venthrus- the battle is mostly over- so I will not change this fight much- i think after 4 rounds, a pirate will arrive every 2 rounds to help him.

am I making the battle too tough? how are these tactics? the idea of attacking in waves when you are outnumbered is silly.
So, I see the pirates working their way into the city in a circle-

I have more then enough minis to sell a few sets - i must have 50 bullywogs, countless pirates and rogue types. i sold an adventure pack last summer for about 25 dollars- it came with 50 minis.

So in the flavor text of the room he is listed as having 50+ hps-
In the monster discription though, they have an average of 90+ hp.
Is this a wussie golem- or are the hp off?

There is a difference between using a movie and recreating it. Personally- as a player- I would think- wow, how lame- i wonder how many souls I am worth...oooooh i wonder when the kraken is going to attack, Hey, lets fight in a a mill wheel!
The original Isle of Dread is not only a rip off of King Kong, but lots of classic pulp- jules verne, robert howard, and the guy who wrote tarzan.

honestly, it seems kind of...well- it is a blatent rip off. if the players don't mind- then fine- but what does it do to accompish the plot? could that be done with something less obvious? Sure- Davey Jones is cool and all- but I think that your players diserve a foe that isn't part of a summer blockbuster. maybe make him a half slaad/mind-flayer with lots of cleric levels- after the pact is fulfilled you are implanted with an egg that turns you into the same.as far as a weakness goes- don't forget that he can't go on land but once a decade.

in " here there be monsters"
we lost Tevey Nesk to a giant centipede
Urol Furol Died when the party was surrounded by mummies
Our fighter/Priest Was also killed by a mummy.

So there they are- surrounded by 6 Vine terrors- 1 for each PC-
the battle isn't going well- the warmage is grappled( and unconscious, the ranger, and thief are bleeding to death- the mage is at 0 hit points- then the tide turned- the cleric ( with only 5 hps left cast a maximixed healing spell on himself- then the fighter drops the vine grappling the war mage-the mage shoots an acid arrow and goes negatve- the priest heals the war mage- who manages to drop 2 horros with a magic missle spell, the priest manages to heal the entire party- the thief gets down to -9. Had the priest not nad a tough concentration check to heal himself- it would have been a TPK. had the war mage not used his magic missiles right then- TPK. that fight was tougher then the Mother.

hmmm, damn halflings- let me know the issue when you find it- thanks!

Hey James, My wife set up a massive criminal organization based out of the porphory house- Her pc just died and she now wants to play the daughter of the guild mistress- looking to regain control of her mothers empire. Who's hands is the porphory house in- or does it matter? I have already dicided that the crimson fleet is a splinter group of the guild. WHat can you tell us about the current state of the city?

I would say spell thief and a druid

Rest in Peace:
Sarah Barechin-
Human agent of Osprem (assassin)
level 5
Flotsom Ooze

Antonio De LaRosa
Human Swashbuckler
Level 5
Flotsom Ooze

Man, that thing hits HARD!! Word of caution- don't jump into the water to see if the ship hit ground...

the chance of finding critters in sasserines canals is zilch (in my world) they are filled with filth and human waste.

I am the DM. The PC's are helping defend a large city, a flight of dragons is fast approaching- I had my favorite PC EVER along as an ally to the city- he was like a 15th level F/M ( 2nd edition)
as the dragons approach- he and his fairy dragon buddy fly towards them boldly- and snapps his staff of power. the party stared in disbelief as i tore up the character sheet of a pc i had used since Junior High. They then bravely fought off the dwarven horde- not a dry eye in the house.

As a player- more recently, we used an awakened tree to defeat a huge red dragon. ( similar to the flying elephant bit)

reminds me of "backpack" from Go Diago Go

Fake Healer wrote:

Maybe a portable battering ram. WHAM! ow. WHAM! ow. Or a backpack, the mimic could hand the owner whatever items he calls for. "Rope!" called the warrior. "Coming up!" comes the cheerful reply from the warriors pack.

I like it, kinda neat idea.

There is the problem of mimics being covered in super-sticky slime, however...

I think the stickiness is at will- not constantly- or it would hamper their ability to hide.

You ever wonder how mimics would survive in a world with out adventurers?

I wanted to share a couple of good mimic shape ideas...

A suit of strange looking armor- it speaks softly, in dwarven- praising Moradin that finally a dwarf worthy of donning him is here- the armor is a heavy suit of half plate....after being donned- it begins to eat the hapless adventurer...

a small bridge over a deep pit, or section of broken stairs

a small boat...in deep water do you kill it or make a deal with it?

I was thinking about a mimic who is bored of the dungeon life so becomes some sort of item and joins an adventuring party.

this incounter is more fun then a barrel full of ...um...oh.

you know what incounter bugs me? the pirates ship. i mean these guys are such chumps that they are just waiting for a fireball to smoke them from a distance. - I will be beefing this encounter up a bit-

I consider sociably acceptable to equate good- or in the case of slavery and a few other things- nuetral. .
I do include child abuse and rape in my campaigns. also, drug abuse, mutilation and other things that make evil VERY evil. I assume they will purchase a few to sell at farshore.

BAH! I see no reason to not have slaves. I was considering having a portion of the "trade goods" on the blue nixie be slaves.
Slavery wasn't evil 300 years ago- it was a fact of life.
I played the halfling maid of lavinia as a slave.

I was thinking about a kobald doctor and his new bride- a recently freed kobald chef,
swapping out rowyn for a vengeful agent of the lotus's
a pair of missionaries of pholtus

I bought the pirates of the caribbean and LOST sound tracks