Jian's page

In two weeks we're beginning our foray into the Savage Tide adventure path, using 5E rules (though I'm more concerned about the story than the rule set). I'm big on prologues and feel the setup (you've done something to gain fame in town, so Lavinia seeks you out) is too generic for my purposes. I like to use pure roleplay for each campaign start (e.g. in Kingmaker, it was "you received a charter to scout the Stolen Lands, so how did it happen?" We started at a wedding 6 months prior and everyone invented why they were there until we had intervened in an politically motivated assassination attempt).

Has anyone worked something like this for ST?

Having read the whole thing and scoured the forums, I'm very aware having the party like Lavinia is probably key. Tips or special encounters to make this happen?

I've read, but obviously not played, that after the battle of Farshore, the quality of the adventures (routine dungeon crawls) wanes. True? If so, fixes? The story seems strong.

I'm always on the lookout for home-brewed handouts, enhancements, etc., if you have a recommended resource. I've taken a lot of inspiration from Vermilleo's campaign journal and google site, though unfortunately his group fell apart.

I'm enjoying the Lightless Depths (after the attack on Farshore), just make sure you are prepared to give players a clear reason to attack the ziggurat (the conclusion is probably too much for them to make on their own) and also a really reasonable explanation of how they can get back out so they actually decide to venture forth :)

Thanks a lot for these suggestions and corrections!

Bye! It was a fine time.

I need to see that issue, seriously :D

Interestingly even defiants can gain divine spells, although the source is arguable.
The same with a more extreme example, heretics in the Forgotten Realms receiving spells, look at the confusion concerning the silence of Lathander on the Risen Sun Heresy in Lost Empires of Faerûn - they might draw on lingering divine energy, continue to gain spells from other deities or still gain them because of some secret the deity is not willing to share. The strength of faith seems to fuel divine spellcasting even in such a deity-centred campaign as FR. There are even those who revere fallen gods and celestial paragons and they are apparently not punished in the Fugue Plane.
Let's assert that there is not a perfectly recognizable reasoning involved when it comes to faith in the game.
Edit: Reading over it again, the text suggests that clerics can effectively shape the divine landscape by altering the common perception of a deity. An example is made in the attempted resurrection of Amaunator. The interaction between faith and reality is crucial for the setting and what precipitates the other is hard to tell, as embodied by the fission of the elven pantheon and Lolth and the crown wars.

Sorry I should have refreshed my page - I didn't know someone answered that already (I still had it on and also I was in a hurry to leave).
Well explained by my forespeaker.

The Obtain Familiar feat from Complete Arcane accomplishes the same as it lets all arcane caster levels stack for the purpose of familar abilities.

The advanced ultroloth can be found at page 84 of the named Dungeon #141.

Thank you very much for the info. I can't wait to read the article, I have happened to think of Astaroth as the most interesting demon lord anyway. What a coincidence!

This means D&D now has three Astaroths to choose from, the demon lord (assumed dead or imprisoned in the FR), the devil from an old Dragon issue and the vestige. What variant does the Dungeon #148 add to the confusion? Or is the reference of the three faces an acknowledgment of this discrepancy?

For my personal taste, as much as I enjoy reading your ideas about an epic succession to the Adventure Paths and how you take up and expand upon very nice existing adventures, there is too much name-dropping involved. Make fewer enemies your main enemies and reduce the number of gods; your adventure will provide much more of an epic feel in that way (a god is still a god!), is easier to control, and makes the PCs remain important. You can make the adventure much more focused by using Pelor only, which would provide you with enough material for a lot to be going on, and the enemies would really come together against the adventurers in this fashion.
Btw your ur-priest still only has effective divine caster level 17th (I recommend Practiced Spellcaster) though he casts all the spells of a 10th-level ur-priest.

Wow, I have to say thanks for so much interesting news about Iggwilv and the last instalments of Dungeon. I once made up a very cool female wizard villain and this is quite similar to what I had envisioned. That nice lady was pretty much able to stand her ground with an epic ruin spell ... sweet memories.

There is the tomb warden, a prestige class from Libris Mortis that gives immunity to turning in the place the undead is supposed to guard, the crucifixion spirit from Tome of Horrors II and the curst from FR Monster Compendium/Lost Empires of Faerûn. For the good ones there is also the archlich/baelnorn (FR Monster Compendium) or the good lich (Libris Mortis).
As for the CR: the system is probably too implemented to be changed like that but it would certainly rid us of the problem with zombies having so many HD for turning attempts.
If one wanted to change radically one could just as well take the variant from Complete Divine that allows the cleric to deal damage instead of simply having the chance to make that damn undead thing run away. For clerics with prestige classes the system right now is clearly an obstacle even though the class abilities probably counter that, but not in campaigns heavily frequented with undead (as a cleric one would take one or the other level of Sacred Purifier, Morninglord of Lathander, or Radiant Servant of Pelor anyway then I guess).

Thanks for making up your minds, I can only guess it works like disintegration then (remember: look into your Planar Handbook to see an atheist cleric who turns undead).

What exactly happens when a vampire is successfully targeted with a turn undead attempt that would normally lead to the destruction of the undead target?
The SRD says: If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, the vampire automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect.
So is it impossible to kill vampires by using turn undead?

That was the Charlatan from Dragon 335.

One of the things to remember about Mystra is that she is only NG because much of her still remembers being mortal. Ed has implied that she is going to slowly become more and more LN, like the previous Mystra, especially since she has all of her memories and experiences within her. On top of that, Mystra is allied to all of the gods of magic in the Faerunian pantheon, including Azuth (patron of wizards and those that practice organized magic, LN, and her right hand being for a very long time), Savras (N patron of divination, one time rival of Azuth when Azuth was a mortal himself), and Velsharoon (NE god of necromancy, former Red Wizard of Thay and ascended to godhood by Talos . . . when he ticked off Talos, he ran and hid under Mystra's skirts). Mystra has even come into conflict with her former (in their mortal forms) lover Kelemvor over her support of Velsharoon.

I understand what you are saying, but there is a lot of evidence to support that the "office" of Mystra is LN, its just that the current Mystra just happens to remember her mortal life enough to keep her NG for the time being. Its not a way of saying that magic is itself a good phenomenon.

Savras is actually LN, which supports your theory. There are also hints in Magic of Faerûn that Mystra would like to assimilate the Shadow Weave and was willing to even sacrifice her goodness for bringing an end to the conflict with Shar. This would probably make her N rather than LN, bringing her even closer to Boccob's alignment.

I think we just found a new president for Paizo Publishing.
Good job!

You mentioned Dragon #294, It had write ups for my 2 favorite GH gods and the Cover was HOT HOT HOT ... And by far the Best COVER EVER goes to Dugeon 121

I agree to the sentiment about Dragon #294 but don't expect more to come. I personally like the covers very much that show strong women as well - it's a communicative game after all and even the occasional prince needs rescuing.

Part of the question probably is whether there is a similarly iconic figure as Iggwilv (she was featured on the cover of Dungeon for Erathaol's sake) to be put forward as an arch for such articles. Now the Fiendish Codex II has neither supported distinguished mortal sages about the topic, except for suggesting the lore collected by Hellbreakers and the occasional Soulguard, which are quite loosely assembled organizations. It seems only one of those or a devil (an erinyes sage was mentioned) could provide such insight - or at least I cannot make up my mind about others.

I really do hope that some of the lesser known demons manage to grace the pages of the Demonicom such as Abraxas, and Astaroth.

Astaroth is in Fiendish Codex (as probably dead) and mentioned in Lost Empires as a sleeping demon lord as well. His portfolio of prophecy could prove to be an interesting topic, especially for the Realms.

The biggest problem with the head for me was the large horns, they look far larger than the ones in Fiendish Codex, whereas the neck is not so terrible - she is a demon after all.
However, the best demon issues I guess were Pazuzu's and Kostchtchie's.

Mongoose's Quintessential Wizard has an atheist prestige class which provides multiple advantages for players with non-divine spell progression.

kahoolin wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

There is indeed a picture of an incubus, although he's pretty freaky, what with the sharp teeth and the gazelle horns.

Hey man, teeth, horns a tail and gigantic bat wings never stopped guys thiking succubi are sexy...

Being freaky does not mean one is not sexy. Quite the opposite.

Nethertheless, Wikipedia states with regard to demographical distribution that due to the public's increased perception of homosexuality as an innate condition the fear of being identified as gay among young people has increased, which makes (the target group being the one it is) not trying to use an upfront cover hero a reasonable decision related to business. I guess this settles the case.

The last dragon could have provided an opportunity to show some beautiful yet classy male physique, I heard incubi were included. Even though Malcanthet certainly provided a hard competition - does anyone know whether there was a picture included?