Lady Platypus's page

Dungeon Magazine #122 has a D&D 3.5 adventure called Root of Evil that is a dungeon in a sentient demonic tree that is taking over a city.

That sounds pretty cool! I'll check it out, thanks!

I would read The Angry GM's articles "Why Mazes Suck" and "Why Traps Suck". Valuable stuff.

I'll give it a read, but I think I know where it's going with it. To be honest, I don't like mazes either (where the objective is just to find the exit), but dungeon crawling works differently.

My setting has a demi-plane that is essentially the world in Orcs Must Die, where the boss creature (whoever wears the helm major artifact) can reshape the plane, turn it into a deadly maze and add various traps to it. This demiplane has rifts/portals that can lead to various destinations that are otherwise hard or impossible to get to.

It sounds... complicated. How are players supposed to push on if the enemy can reshape the dungeon at will?

I second The Mystara Mega dungeon. There is also a few 100 yard a hex maps with a lot of different terrain that would be perfect for a Fortnite type game on the The Piazza. Go to Vaults of Pandius.

Look for the 1 mile hex mapping thread on the Piazza under Mystara.

Fortnite pathfinder mix? I'll pass...

There's also The Lost City of Barakus and Rappan Athuk from Frog God Games. You can probably still get the PF 1e edition of both and they have huge, old-school mega dungeons.

Also I love adding planar exits and demi planes to mega dungeons. I started doing that in 3e after I read an article in a Dungeon magazine about healing in the dungeon. One solution they had was that the PCs open a door and find themselves in some kind of Norse-themed feasting hall. Here they dine with other heroes, make merry and drink themselves into a stupor; when they awake they're back in the dungeon, the door just opens to an empty room, but they're fully healed and feel as if they've just eaten a full meal and rested for 8 hours.

I'll look it up! And I love the Valhalla feast idea!

Possible fun sites for a "dungeon"[...]

Holy moly those are A LOT of ideas! I'm definitely going to use some of these in the future!

I highly recommend the Kostakep mega-dungeon from Threshold, the Mystara fanzine.

I'll have to read it through, but at a first glance it seems interesting. Thanks!

Seems like the Undermountain would be a heaven for your players.

A dungeon that constantly shifts and changes its layout so that the path behind you doesn't even lead to where you came from, and the path in front of you could go anywhere.You can only escape if you are lucky... or just as mad as the mad wizard who built it.

Undermountain is great, and would work fine but one of my player is actually preparing to master it for another group, so he has an extensive knowledge of it that might lead to it being less fun for him. But I guess I could take some things from it and make my own!

Your ship was sucked into a whirlpool, now you're trying to find your way out of the inside of the hollow world/a labyrinth of partially submerged caverns/the inside of a humongous creature.

I like that, the submerged parts could make for a nice twist the usual cave exploration, and it would also allow me to use some aquatic creatures we usually ignore...

I'm not sure I follow. These sound like adventure sites, rather than campaign settings. Is that what you're going for?

How about an abandoned/haunted castle on the back of a giant turtle, or that's somehow walking around in it's own right? Maybe the local lord needs some foolhardy types to look into it since it wandered onto his land.

Yes, adventure sites probably describes it better, my mistake. I considered an abandoned manor or castle, but it still gave them a chance of simply going elsewhere to buy supplies or find something else to do. By placing it on a giant turtle, or on some other limited space, it solves that problem nicely!

I think the idea is the game will end when the 'dungeon' is finished/escaped.

Exactly! Dungeon crawlers usually work like that, and both me and my party seem to enjoy it. That's why I'm looking for a way to add a twist to it, making it less monotonous.

Hello everyone!
After a long break, I'm back to the drawing board for my next campaign.
I'm looking for ideas on which kinds of settings could work for a dungeon crawling campaign.

So far we have tried the following settings:
- Classic dungeon: one main entrance, filled with traps and monsters, and a large treasure hidden deep inside.
- Large cave network: no exits, natural dangers and monsters, mapping it was their motive to explore, and allowed for some social encounters with other races who had built tribes and encampments in that same cave network.
- [Starfinder] Damaged space station: they spawned outside of it, found a breach and got inside to find themselves in what was an orbiting prison. Automated defences and escaped prisoners were the main enemy, and finding a way to get out of there alive (by restoring the escape pods and landing on the nearby planet) was their main objective.

All of those worked just fine, and they had a blast playing it (even tho they all died in the cave one due to some poor choices).
They thrive in confined environment, where exploration is a big part of the game and resources are somewhat limited (can't just go back to town and buy more).
So here I am, looking for ideas on which other settings could work for this kind of campaign.

At first I thought at some kind of maze, but that would be frustrating after a while. Another thing I considered is the inside of a humongous creature, most likely a dead one; it would be fun to adapt monsters and dangers based on which part of the body they are in...

What do you think? Any cool ideas?

The DM just informed us he's changing game system, switching to 5e. So thanks everyone for your advice, but I'll have to kinda star over with that.

I will still take note of all your advices, and try to fit them as I can in that system. Thanks and sorry for wasting your time!

Forgive my lack of replying, I was trying to figure out some details. As of this moment, this is how the party wants to play it out:

- Lawful neutral: we are going to write our own 'code' and follow it. Laws outside of the Code won't matter to us, and we plan on doing whatever will be advantageous to us: that means crime is an option, but not the only option. We chose Neutral because we don't feel like being good, but we don't plan on being psychos or full blown evil guys for the sake of it. If it's convenient, we will help a poor fella, just like we would kill a damsel if within our best interests.

- On the move: we don't plan on staying too long in one place. We plan on moving around to keep our options open, and be able to run if things gets too heated. That means we want to be able to live off the land, navigate the wilds, and craft what we can.

- Secretive: we want to keep our real identity a secret, and have a good cover identity for when we need it. Any 'fake' identity that could give us access to places or people would be extremely valuable to us.

- Party comp: While we all plan on being able to fight, we kinda have split roles between the three of us. We have one 'full damage' guy (maybe gunslinger or ranger?), one going as the 'face' (maybe vigilante?), and me going on a 'support' role (skills and utility).
I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think the DM is going to give us all firearm proficiency due to the setting. I don't think he really wants us to run around with swords and crossbows

- The Plan: the plan is to slowly get power over the region. We plan on taking it through politics rather than force, but always in a criminal way. Gaining favours, bribing officials, gaining followers and intimidating the rest. One of us will probably have to get Leadership, or something; we will have to get a gang together for that.

Speaking of my role, I'm considering the Alchemist, with Chirurgeon archetype. Being INT based gives me some good skill points to put on crafts, Knowledge Nature and Survival are great for wilderness, while bombs and mutagens give me some fighting power. The archetype replaces poison stuff with the ability to give my healing extracts to others, and later on some other healing stuff. The Chirurgeon also gives me that Frontier Doctor feel I liked, and a perfect cover identity if I need one, with access to important people and holding some other people's lives in my hands. Btw we are all Humans.

I don't know my ability scores yet, but I'm hoping for something between 14-16 on INT, which gives me 5 or 6 (4+INT) skills to put points in. Once I've taken Heal, Nature, and Survival, I'm considering Crafts: Alchemy for sure and a second one I can't decide.
I'm fairly sure someone else is going to have gunsmithing, so what could be helpful? Alchemy already gives me poisons, drugs, and such.

I could use ideas on how to make the build for future levels, or how to make it more 'far-westy' with whatever comes to mind. What items should be 'must have' for a frontier doctor? Any suggestion on how to better role-play it?

I've also just been told some 3pp materials will be allowed. If you have any suggestion, I can show it to the DM and see if it's allowed.

A kineticist using aether for their element uses random objects or debris as projectiles, could definitely choose cards or coins...could be an old west version of Gambit from the X-men.

I'll look into that, thanks!

What does your GM think of the Mountain Men, or is this strictly "Cowboy"?

I think it would work too. What do you have in mind?

You want an order of the Penitent cavalier!!! It has a mount, and a pretty nifty ability at level two where if you have rope handy, you can skip the pinning step in a grapple and just tie them up, without the usual -10 penalty. Pretty cowboy-ish, if I do say so.

Nice! I'm taking note of it, could be a fun character!

Get your dexterity up. Way up, because any armor that doesn't work versus Touch is going to be utter junk outside of the odd bear attack.

Lady Platypus wrote:

I don't want a full gunslinger build.

Don't worry; there's no longer any reason to be one past 5th anyway. It was Nerf-sledged pretty good.

Good tip, I hadn't thought about it. I've read something about the nerf, I guess dex to damage is all I would need if I go that way. 5 levels is still a big 'dip', but I guess I could work with it.

It isn't too hard to cowboy up any class.

Paladin: the ultimate 'White Hat' cowboy.

Preacher could be a bard, or a cleric, or an inquisitor.

Faith Healer could be a cleric, oracle, kinetisist, sorcerer, or any class with the Healing Hands feat. Equally good as a Doctor.

Alchemist: Indian Shaman, crotchety old miner throwing dynamite and drinking home brewed moonshine, eastern greenhorn chemist, snake oil seller (could also be a Druid with Druidic Herbalist).

Monk/brawler: Chinaman that walked away from the railroad crews, professional boxer, man who prefers to settle matters with his fists.

Wizard/Sorcerer/any caster really: Occult Investigator, Teacher, Natural Scientist, Voodoo Practitioner, Gambler (especially with a Harrow deck), mad scientist, Holy Man, Stage Magician.

To be honest, my first though was a Gunslinger: Mysterious Stranger. The archetype has an authentic Clint Eastwood feel to it.

I'm liking the ideas around Alchemist a lot, I'll look more into those too.

The singing cowboy with his guitar is a common trope. Lassoing cattle is a fun image. Zorro is arguably an old west character. A soldier coming out to the frontier to escape reminders of what he saw in the war.

Speaking of lassoing, is there a way to make a good character build based on it? It could be interesting, capturing instead of killing (or doing both).

With farmer, you're probably right. Though they tend to be in the wilderness or country already and have to deal with problems heading to and from town. Ranchers could be leading cattle drives or herding animals long distances and having to hunt down strays, fight off rustlers and predators, and deal with locals that don't like outsiders tearing up their lands grazing their herds as they pass by.

Surveyors have to travel the wilderness, find passes or slopes for roads or railroads. Also investigating mineral composition for mining and locating fresh water sources for future work camps and rail supply points as well as logging lumber types and availability. They're likely to have to deal with land owners or native tribes and are could be responsible for setting the diplomatic tone for the next settlers or work crew coming by.

Obviously some things will depend on the campaign and its scope itself. Whether it's focused mainly on one location, like North Fork in The Rifleman, or if it ranges across the frontier, like the cattle drive in Rawhide.

It makes sense. I don't know much about the location yet, the Master is very secretive about it. How would you go, class wise, if you had to make a surveyor? It comes to mind the Horizon Walker, but that's a class I never really understood how to make effective

Here is a list of classic western character types I found...most of them would be pretty easy to adapt into quite a few class options.

That's a lot of roles! I see plenty of gunslinger kind of builds there, and a bunch of unadventurous one, but there is a few that sound like they could work.

The hunter trapper and the frontier doctor seem both very interesting, just like the preacher man and the gambler. Any thoughts on which classes could work best for those?
I imagine the trapper as a ranger maybe, and the preacher as a cleric, but not sure about the doctor and gambler. It would be cool if the doctor wasn't just a magic healer, and the gambler not just a rogue. Is there some way to make cards or coins a good weapon?

Wouldn't simple working people like farmer/ranchers or surveyor just keep at their jobs? Why would they leave a safe income to risk their lives in the wilds?

I like the preacher idea, it could be very interesting! I also like the native guide, but I'm not sure if we can be natives or if they're like another faction well encounter.

Personally, I would suggest to a new DM to only allow core races and classes. Pathfinder already has enough rules by core, no need to add complications on your first try.

Even if you want to allow more things than just core, I wouldn't allow firearms for example (no gunslinger except for the crossbow archetype one). They make creating encounters just harder, because of they hit on touch AC.

Spiritualist would be another ban I would suggest to a new DM; the potential of their ghost is huge, and it can really screw up your plans if they use it well.
Easy example, using it for scouting after every door: now your ambush failed, the trap set up behind the door is revealed, or the gelatinous cube waiting for them on the other side is no longer a real threat because they know he's there as soon as they open the door.

Of course there are ways to counter those things too, but as a new DM it's just another headache you can easily avoid by reducing their options.

I'm the first one that likes to have access to ALL published material, but I'd rather be limited than see the campaign go to hell because of it.

If you really want to be "a wall" for your party, you should look into Golden Legionnaire. You can build around a reach weapon and preventing enemies from passing you at all. Even with low dmg output, they couldn't ignore you because you wouldn't let them to reach the rest of the party (as long as they are melee).

Hellooooooooooo! :)
I will soon take part to a campaign set in an old west setting. I'm looking for ideas and suggestions on interesting characters and builds.
We can use any class, as long as we give it a 'cowboy'-flavour. Also we are all required to be able to use advanced firearms. I don't want a full gunslinger build.
I'm not very familiar with the Wild West, other than Indians and cowboys. What other kind of characters would make sense as adventures?

Hello!
As a master I'm always looking for new complex NPCs to introduce in my campaign. While I like making them up myself, it takes a lot of time to properly make a character that feels real (not just the random merchant with no name).

While game like Pathfinder offer a lot of pre-generated complex NPCs, Starfinder doesn't have that yet. You have some tools to help you build them, but you can't just grab one at the ready.

So this is what I thought: wouldn't it be nice if we made a thread where everyone contributes by making some NPCs?

Anything works, even home-brew abilities or races (as long as you write it's HB).

If you guys are interested, let me know and we'll start making them up! Or be the first to post one :)

I see a problem with Pharasma [...]

I would consider replacing her with / changing her to a Death-Deity that is actually the one responsible for the "second chance" undead, the one to whom all those prayers/rituals are directed. They would still abhor whatever other undead exist---those that didn't rise with the deity's own blessing. If this deity is [still] the deity of birth as well, the "second chance" undead could be referred to as the Reborn.

While I'm thinking of deities and clerics, here's a random one: maybe clerics and paladins can't become "second chance" undead because when they die, their deity (by hypothesis) snatches their soul to their bosom and won't give it back. That means there are some inherently undead-free but not inherently anti-undead institutions. Whether to make the death-deity's clergy an exception should be given some thought, and might depend on whether the PCs are supposed to be followers/clerics/paladins of the death-deity or are fighting for undead rights for some other reason---you certainly want the PCs able to come back once, at least.

If things like vampires and liches exist, clerics and paladins could still become those, because the soul doesn't leave the body at any point in that process so their deity doesn't have a chance to grab it.

I'll consider making up a new deity, or at least involve a major deity in the process of creating undead.

I like the idea of clerics and paladins not being able to be raised. I'm not sure about them becoming vampires or liches, I'll have to think about it.

I would make having a soul a prerequisite for a "second chance."

Seems fair to me.

Are you sure resurrection magics exist? It might be more interesting if undeath is the only way to come back.

I'm sure about it, but it will be a lot harder to achieve. It will only involve divine intervention, and be very expensive. I'm thinking something about requiring multiple souls to get one back, or someones's willingly sacrificing their souls for it.

Ok, then any "leper colonies" have to be staffed by a small nearby group of the living, probably clergy of whatever deity give second chances. That means there'll be witnesses if crusaders wipe out the undead... unless they're bloodthirsty enough to kill the staff too. But that would definitely be murder, no matter what country they're in.

Yes, undead will always need the livings, which is the main reason they haven't raised against them so far.

Are you sure about that? I'd think an intact undead (or one wearing clothes over its gaping wounds) wearing the proper makeup and faking breathing (or wearing loose clothes) could pass for living, as long as their presence doesn't immediately sicken everybody.

Well they could try to hide it, but I see it more like a stealth thing (hoods, and such) rather than a real disguise check. They still wouldn't have a pulse, so it's easy for someone who knows a bit about undead to check them. They are also vulnerable to holy water, so clerics could just use a few drops on them to see if they have a reaction or not.

Keep it simple. Say that a brief daily prayer to the deity responsible for second-chance undead (Pharasma replacement or otherwise) protects you from their direct effects, though it doesn't protect your property, family, etc. Then the undead must still be kept away from animals and small children, who can't pray, but can be safely interacted with by anyone older. Unless they refuse to say the daily prayer on principle, of course.

I love the prayer idea! Thanks!

There are optional rules for removing alignment from the game if you're interested, see here.

Interesting, thank you!

So many good ideas!

For the sake of more originality I would make the newfound undead [...]

I'm thinking about adding the Undead template to whatever the NPC was in life. The only custom thing will be some sort of "death aura", that will slowly release negative energy to everything around them.

A great enemy are paladins and clerics of Pharasma as it states that that god specifically hates undead as they are unnatural.

I'll make sure to give it a look! They could be the most violent group of those against the Undead!

Im also curious as to how you will handle other undead, such as vampires, grave knights etc due to them being inherently evil and intelligent however you could just simply not have them.

I still have to think about it. Dave Justus's suggestion might work well for it.

Last question is can people only pray for other intelligent beings? What if someones pet dies, could they pray to bring them back?

That's a good question. I guess they could, but the animal mind might not be able to handle it very well. It would be risky to have an undead dog for example.

For a minority undead population, I suggest that the rituals are more difficult/costly the longer they've been undead, and/or that neither the rituals nor anything else repairs damage the undead take after being raised, so the older ones are kinda falling apart from accumulated damage and might not want to stay around indefinitely.

That could work well. Turning someone into undead would make it a temporary fix to have them back, not a long term solution (unlike resurrection).

Do the undead-maintenance rites require the participation of living persons, or are the undead potentially self-sufficient?

I would say they do require living people, both for the ritual and for protection.

How about a zealous Angel of some sort decides that the negative energy is a scourge; those that follow this angel are given a message.

[...]
Then yeah, maybe life-oriented things like Treants and whatnot don't appreciate the undead either.

Sure, both "good" beings and life-oriented ones work well. They could also have different reasons to hate the Undead, leading to multiple enemy factions that deal with them in different ways.

Also, consider people who are just not happy about the undead also causing unrest. Possibly attacking undead in the street. There can be "no-go" zones for undead simply due to being extremely unwelcome.

That's surely going to be a thing, especially in smaller villages where the "undead rights" are often not granted.

You might consider going with 3 types of undead. [...]

I'm not sure about the Mindless ones, but I do like the Evil Masters idea!

You might look at the real world struggle for gay rights for interesting parallels. I'm not saying that gays are like undead that cause ecological damage, but whatever your opinion on gay rights, it is obvious that the gay rights movement has had considerable success in gaining rights...

I was thinking about something that resembles racial segregation, since it's an aspect of yourself you can't hide in any way. I'll have to write a "bill of rights" for them, in order to see what they can and can't do in society.

If a child's parents are killed in accident and one returns, will the child (infant of very young) be returned to them? Placed with a caregiver that may potentially (though unintentionally) drain their life/kill them slowly with negative energy.

Good question. Assuming the child has a way to pay for the ritual, I guess he would be left with a living relative, if there is one, and the Undead parent can live with them too. If there is no relative, a guardian will be appointed.

I might have to change something so that the Undead don't have a decay effect on people. I'm fine with withering plants and making animals sick, but it's hard to explain why people would keep them around if they get sick or depressed...
There could be a cheap amulet or ring that protects you from it? Or a spell cast on the entire village, that prevents that from happening, but if you go outside you're not protected anymore?

As long as you let your players know that you're customising monster abilities, it should be fine.

Players rely on old campaigns like a character relies on tales and stories he heard in his life. You might not have Knowledge Religion, but you might still know a vampire can't suffer sunlight, or a ghost can go through walls.

Telling them your plan to change it, makes them rely less on those information, and think more before acting on possibly-wrong intel.

Another good thing you could do, is making up new names, or different physical description:
"In front of you stands a creature. At first glance it looks like a Ghoul, but you quickly notice a third eye on his forehead. Roll Knowledge Religion to see if you know more"
-Roll high enough:
"You've seen a drawing of such creature before, while looking to the church's archives. You recall its name as 'Ghoulas'. The few notes you can recall told about his ability to see magical power as a light aura"
-Roll too low:
"You don't recall seeing or hearing about it, but you're pretty sure Ghouls don't generally have 3 eyes..."

Something along those lines should give them a pretty good idea that what they are going to fight is based on the Ghoul monster, but with a custom twist. That way they might still consider it undead, but won't act exclusively on the Ghoul stats.

YES! That's exactly what I'm looking for, thank you!!!

I'm loving your ideas, especially the legal aspect of it. It will make the entire thing feel more realistic, and I can already see a bunch of scenarios when it comes up...

Yes, the "second chance" undead are all intelligent as they were in life. I guess it would make sense them being the only undead around, avoiding me some troubles.

For the alignment thing, I was mostly concerned about it because if a player raises undead with a spell, I kinda need to know what alignment that spell is. But I guess I could go with neutral, and then based on their actions with it assign it an alignment.

I could consider them a minority, it could work well.

That's a nice idea! Instead of a cult operating in the shadows, one that has a very real facade, but with an illegal twist behind it. I like it!

I have an idea and I need your help to develop it further.

I want to build a campaign where my players are the heroes who fight FOR the undead scourge, instead of against it. They will begin in a part of the world where undead are common, and fight against people and creatures that want to get rid of it.

So far nothing new, right? Here's the twist.
My undead will not be the monsters that kill anything in sight and have no feelings. I want them to be real people, blessed by the scourge that is giving them a second chance at life.

Imagine a family that lost their kid. Now imagine that kid being brought back through necromancy. He'll look a little different, but he's still their kid. They will still love him, and he will still love them.
To these people, undead are family members, neighbours, friends.

In other words, I want to make Undead feel more human, while still being controversial.

To make things more interesting, and give their enemies a stronger reason to fight them, undead will have a downside: they are brought into the world through negative energy, and that energy slowly fades from them, affecting what's around them.
Plants will slowly wither, animals might develop diseases, and people's mood and health will be affected. To keep the undead "alive", they will need to replenish this energy inside them through religious rituals, which brings more negative energy in the world.

That is the real reason some people are fighting it. It's not about them being "unnatural", it's about the negative energy being poured into the world to keep them.

Assuming bringing someone back is not something everyone can afford, and since I don't want only rich undead, I'm thinking it could work sort of like a lottery. People prey at the temple and leave offers to the gods, in exchange sometimes one of their wishes is granted and a loved one is brought back as an undead.

A few issues I'm having are the following:
- How to deal with unintelligent undead. How are they considered by the population? They still used to be their families...
- How common should being raised as undead be? What percentage of the population should be undead?
- What would make a good enemy? A secret cult kept alive in abandoned churches or cellars, that fights them guerrilla-style? An entire different nation that sends crusades against them? An alliance between life-oriented creatures? Or what else?
- Is necromancy good for bringing them back to their loved ones, or is it evil for bringing in more negative energy that will (in time) cause more harm to the world than good?

Any suggestion?

Hello! Here's a little game to do together.
Our goal will be creating a massive dungeon, with each user's reply being the description of a single room and what's inside it.
I'll begin describing the first room. The user after me will describe one of the rooms connected to it, and so on.

To make things easier, I ask everyone to follow this simple template:

Room # - Name:
- Room Size (grid squares [top to bottom] x [left to right], or more specific if not rectangular shaped)
- Room description (doors, secret passages, columns, obstacles/forniture etc...)
- Hazards (monsters, traps, dangerous effects)
- Treasures (generic or specific, up to you)
- Other info (anything you'd like to add)

Every door is named as Door_Room#Letter to distinguish them. This way it's easier to understand the next user which door crossed and described. Same goes with traps or other items that can be affect other rooms.

At the end write what's left to describe for the next users. I'd suggest taking the spot with a short message saying which door you plan to do, and then edit the message with the full description to avoid multiple people describing the same room.

I'll start:
The adventures find themselves in front of the dungeon. In front of them, a huge round door has been blast open from the outside, allowing them to easily get through.

Room 1 - Entrance:
- 8x6
- The room is lit by a beam of sunlight coming through the broken door. No other light source is visible inside. At the center of the room, a Large (2x2) bronze statue representing a hand holding a globe grabs the attention of whoever comes inside. At a closer look, the globe shows geographical landmarks drawn on it, as a planet would. Two closed metal doors (Door_1A and Door_1B) are visible on the east wall, each sized for a Medium creature. On the opposite side of the room, on the west wall, a larger door (Door_1C) has been welded shut.
- The room is safe. A silent alarm (Trap_1A), made with an optical sensor hidden in the ruined door, is triggered when they first step into the dungeon.
- The room holds no loot, other than scrap metal from the door.
- If the players check the floor by the entrance, they notices what's left of whatever used to be written on the floor: "WEL E T EN FAC TY". The writing must have been ruined either by time or by the door's explosion.

Room Map:

XXXXXX
DXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXSSXD
XXSSXD
XXXXXX
DXXXXX
XXEEXX

D = Door
E = Entrance
S = Statue
Undescribed rooms: Door_1A, Door_1B, Door_1C
Unused tools: Trap_1A

I like the idea of mixing them up. I would just have to make sure they are balanced, I wouldn't want them feeling overshadowed by another player if he has a stronger undead race

I'm not sure yet.
On one side, I'd like them to be something powerful, because it would fit nicely the idea of them being more important than common zombies and such, and I'm sure they would like it a lot.
On the other, undead template already gives them plenty of stuff, and I wouldn't want to give them too much power, making common monsters too weak for them...

Any suggestion?

It sounds like the characters would all be evil. Are your players down for this? Do you think they can handle it?

I was thinking a Lawful-Evil alignment for them. It would make sense to me, given they are like "high ranking officers" in a sort-of evil kingdom.

I don’t think you need to start them at level 5 or higher. It could be that they begin at level 1 and must regain the power they once had. There should be additional undead emtombed, so one of them can awaken that when one of the characters is robbed of its undead life force.

True, their levelling up could be them slowly gaining back their former powers. Love the idea of other bodies, thanks!

A long term plot hook could be an evil wizard who gets first introduced to the group by kidnapping the slumbering boss. The party is revived from their stasis to rescue the boss before he gets bound into a contract to serve the wizard.

I like the idea of another evil guy being the "real" enemy, while the forces of good would be more of an hazard. The wizard of sorts could be a good idea, but in case they start at low level I wouldn't put them against him immediately; it would make no sense for a wizard, powerful enough to bound the boss, to flee.

What kind of monster the boss is becomes really important. Goals should be tied to what kind of monster it is. A Lich will want to secure its safety, privacy, information, and will want to continue its research. A Demon will want to carve a bloody path through the region and lord over it. A Devil will want to rule a well ordered society under his thumb. Preferably from a position of strength, but being able to usurp a kingdom is just as good. A Dragon will more likely want to increase its horde and fame. A Vampire...umm...that could be anything. But very likely controlling a major population center from which it can feed. Maybe create a new brood...or not.

Surely the kind of boss will change a lot the plot. The idea behind it is something that was defeated in the past, and either banished or somehow trapped; that would allow for the "awakening" of it at the beginning. I'd guess that rules out Dragons (but I like the idea so I'll probably add it as a possible ally).

Hello!
I'd like to know if any of you did something similar, having the players as the monsters.

I'm thinking about starting a new campaign, with a little twist: I'd like my heroes to be a group of undead awakened from their hibernating status.

The idea behind it is something of the sort: a group of adventures (NPCs) goes into some ruins and while exploring it awakens an ancient evil being (lich, demon, or whatever). With him, his loyal generals get awakened too (my players), who will instantly have to fight the adventurers.

Once the fight is resolved, they find themselves in a place they don't recognise. They will eventually figure out their corpses were moved from their original fortress, and are now in a long abandoned dungeon.

Given the long "stasis", their boss (the demon or whatevs) doesn't have all its power yet, so it's up to them to help him regain his power and try to keep his return a secret as long as they can (to avoid an army to march there immediately to wipe them out again. They could also try to improve their current lair if they wish.

So while their boss will take the role of "main quest giver", I'm having some issues finding actual quests that would make sense.

A few ideas for quests I had are:
- Finding a way to gain allies within other monster races. Could be done by diplomacy (maybe with a side quest), or by brute force.
- Clearing an area of their lair from mindless monsters (e.g. oozes), or from unintelligent monsters (that could maybe be tamed if they try)
- Stealing supplies (weapons, tools, building materials) from nearby villages, without getting caught. Even better if they plant evidence to point to someone else.

The idea is to spend the first part of the campaign to reinforce their base and raise an army, in order to then unleash chaos on the land once they are strong enough to fight the kingdom's guards. Realistically, if a weakened demon would attack a few villages, the king would send an army of paladins to death with him before he gets too powerful.

So what would you have them do? Given their status, they will probably start around lvl 5 or higher.

Let's begin by saying I know it all sounds too good to be true. Our GM is very generous with rewards, but this sounds like too much even for him. I'm prepared to the idea of getting another curse or stuff like that... but my character wouldn't think that way. After all the royals need us!

On the one hand you might not get anything you do not ask for, but on the other hand by not asking for anything you might get more than you would have asked for.

We tried to ask for future favours, that's the first thing that came to our minds, but they said no. They wanted us to be too specific on the kind of favour to make it worth it.

"Demands"? (raises an eyebrow) I would look up the "goose that laid the golden egg" and other fables about greed.

What level is your party?
Party makeup (class and characters)?
Why are you the "best chance they have to save the city, and probably the kingdom, from annihilation"?
What is the mission?
What kind of campaign has the dm been running? (uban, heavy roleplay, dungen crawls, politics...)

I'm saying demands because we are not from that kingdom and we could just leave if none of them are met. We are willing to give something up, but we are risking our lives and none of us is GOOD. So the reward is the main reason for us to accept this quest.

- We are a low level party, but this is supposed to be the "main quest" of the campaign, something that will last a long time, not just a couple of sessions.
- We have a fighter, bard, monk, ranger and wizard in the group.
- The mission is to get rid of an undead scourge and the lich that created it
- Two reasons: the world is low-magic, as in magic has been lost and it is still taught in few places. Other than magical creatures, only a bunch of people can wield magic, and our party has a few of them.
Second, we already have the lich's phylactery and a bunch of informations we are not willing to share for free. So if we are not "the only chance", we surely are their best one.

The campaign so far has involved lots of exploration, combat and puzzles. Other than the capital city, we haven't spent much time in urban areas, and we barely saw dungeons. Most of the time we are out in the wilderness fighting monsters and solving clues.

As for the other suggestions, I don't think we committed any crime while in this specific kingdom...

To own and operate a guild officially commissioned by the crown to liaison between upcoming adventurers and the nobility/authority of the kingdom.

A plot of fertile land large enough to build and support a small community, with unrestricted access to fresh, running water that will still be with the kingdom's security and trade network.

A concrete contract ensuring the party, and any future offspring of the party, have access to the best education, magical schooling, military training, and healthcare possible.

And to upgrade the current gear of the party, everything from artisan tools and backpacks made masterwork. Weapons made from Mithral or Adamantine or Whipwood and enchanted to match what we have now. Same with armor.

I like these ideas! It shows a lot of foresight, I'll make sure to include them.

Whatever we need to accomplish the mission, and a bit of luck besides.

That's included in the gold we get to spend immediately. Plus most of it we already have.

I would ask the kingdom for a small bit of land to mark as your own, and form your own kingdom. Would require a willing GM though.

I like the idea, but I'm not sure they would allow us to declare our land as an independent kingdom. The GM probably will allow it, but with the obvious consequence of the king's army trying to retake it by force if we want independence.

Me and my party are in a quite sweet position where we can make a list of "demands" to the king of the city.
Putting it simply, we are the best chance they have to save the city, and probably the kingdom, from annihilation. Before the mission begins, we are writing down a list of things we want in exchange for our help.

So far we have:
- A new national holiday named after us, to celebrate our future achievements.
- A large manor, just outside the capital, to call home.
- Unrestricted access to all knowledge places, such as arcane academies or libraries.
- A monthly payment (nothing gamebreakinig) to sustain our basic expenses.
- Becoming nobles, with a title high enough to be more important than most other nobles (except for the crown's family).
- A bunch of gold to spend immediately, and access to special shops and discounts.

PS. We already tried to get the crown for ourselves, but that's not going to happen.

I was thinking of adding some kind of exotic pet / mount, but I have no clue what would be good to ask for (dragons are too much of a cliche)

What would you ask for?

Perfectly clear, thank you so much!

That means my character is still alive, just dying... but the fight is over, so I can get help from my party ;) Thanks again

THANK YOU!

Hello.
I'm having a hard time understanding the rules about death. This is what happened.
My character was hit when down to 1 HP and 0 SP. The hit was for a total of 19 damage.

I have "Enhanced Resistance Kinetic" feat, meaning I have a DR equal to my BAB which is currently 5. That brings the damage down to 14 points, which leaves me with a negative score of -13.

I know they removed the "equal to negative CON" thing to know if you instantly die. But I can't find how it works now. All I find tells me when I reach 0 HP, not what happens if I have plenty of negative points. My RP score is 7.

So, am I dead? Do I subtract those 7 RP from the damage I took? Can you still die instantly from a hit strong enough?

If I'm not dead, what happens now? If I got it right, I spend half my RP to stabilise, and then 1 more RP to "wake up" (with 1 HP).

Thanks for the help

Hi. I'm looking for SciFi tokens to use on our Roll20 campaign, especially for Starfinder creatures such as those we find in the Alien Codex. Does anyone know where to find some good ones? What do you use on your games?

To be more specific, I'm looking for Nuar, Skittermander, Vesk, and Kasatha. But at this point any token would help, since the DM will for sure need some as enemies and NPCs.

Free tokens would be better, but at this point we are considering buying some if we see something interesting enough.

I wish we were talented enough to draw our own tokens, but we are not...

PS. With "Tokens" I'm not talking about the circular ones with the portraits inside. Those are easy to make. I'm looking for top-view ones, such as Devin's (for example).

Maybe a large corporation is paying you to steal it from another company, because they have the means to hack it with a bit of time. So it's easier to take the entire thing and give it to them, so they can deal with the security measures.

Or maybe you just want to screw up with the owner. His entire life is in that thing, so even just stealing it is enough.

Maybe you know it has valuable informations on it, and you sell it locked on the black market. It's not your problem to unlock it, it's the buyer that will have to deal with it.

As for low tier computers, I'd say mostly for thinkering with it and making something else out of it. They might be low value, but free is always free.

That's what I thought. I'm going to talk with the GM about it, but I wanted some other opinions first.
Thanks!

Hi,
I noticed something interesting while reading into powered armor:

... The cockpit of powered armor is too small to fit a person wearing heavy armor. If you're wearing light armor while in powered armor, you gain the higher of the EAC bonuses and the higher of the KAC bonuses between the two suits of armor, and you take the worse maximum Dexterity bonus and armor check penalty. ...

It doesn't say anything about upgrades. So let's make an example.

I get a "Battle Harness" powered armor (1 slot) with the "Exit Pod" upgrade. While in that armor, I'm also wearing a Estex Suit I (2 slots) with "Infrared Sensors" and "Electrostatic Field mk 1".

Do I get all three bonuses? Do I only get "Exit Pod"? Or do I get both "Exit Pod" and "Infrared Sensors", while only getting the resistance bonus from "Electrostatic Field mk1" (not getting the 1d6 Electricity damage if someone touches or attacks me with melee weapons, since they don't technically get in contact with it)?

I think it's safe to assume that some upgrades wouldn't work on the light armor if I'm also using the powered one, such as Jetpack or Jump Jets for example.

Hmm, I'll think about sniper rifles then.

Is your gm letting you use items from alien archive?

We are using Alien Archive for races mostly. Some items will be allowed, others won't (unless we slaughter the monster it comes from). What did you have in mind?

I don't have much of a choice. I'm only proficient in small arms, and I'm not sure it's worth for an Envoy to get proficiency feats, is it?

I'll check those guns out, thanks

Yes, the 19 is due to an 18 in CHA +1 with the level 5 ability increase.

Everyone in the party rolled the stats, we followed what it said on the core book in alternative methods.

I didn't think about the recharging stations. Any suggestions on equip?

Hello.
I'm trying to build a Skittermander Envoy (Idol) for a new campaign, and I need your help. I have only 1 short experience in Starfinder so far, so I can use all the tips you got.

The character is going to be level 5, with 12.000 credits to spend on Tier 6 (or lower) items.

My stats have been rolled, and I've added all racial, theme and adjustment bonuses, ending up with the following:

STR 8
DEX 17
CON 12
INT 18
WIS 10
CHA 19

That gives me great social skills (and play of others) and allows me to be good at ranged combat too.

I'm thinking Dispiriting Taunt, Inspiring Boost and Quick Dispiriting Taunt as Envoy Improvisations. Skill Expertise will be on Bluff and a skill TBD. As for the Expertise Talent, I'm thinking Convincing Liar.

What I really need your help with is feats and equipment.

My first thought was to get quick draw, but I'm not sure if it works with all 6 arms at once. And even if it did, here comes my big question: is there a way to shoot with more than 2 weapons at once (at my lvl)? It would be super cool to shoot 6 guns at once, even with the penalties associated with the usual TWF (-4) or even more. It wouldn't be a ever-round-action, just a cool thing to do every once in a while. All I could find is Fusillade, which is great but expensive as hell (1 entire mag * 6 = a lot of money every time I use it)

Even if I took those two, which I'm not sure about, it leaves me another feat.

As for equip, I'm really undecided. What kind of weapon (small arms) is more effective in your opinion? Should I go with all equal weapons (easy to deal with and to find ammos), or should all weapons deal a different kind of damage?
Other than armor and weapons, which items you found the most useful?

Thanks for the help

I see, guess I'll put Handy Haversack on the shopping list then!

Dazzling display is actually a good idea. I will have a ton of ranks in Intimidate (or equivalent Perform via versatile performance), plus my CHA will be at least a +4.

That's great! I'm split between going with a whip myself, which opens some cool tricks if I spend on it, or with a flying blade, which is something I've always loved and never had a chance to use (and I believe would fit perfectly with dazzling display).

I'll get an 18 on both INT and CHA by level 8. I can get the following stats:
STR: 10 DEX: 14 CON: 10 INT: 18 WIS: 10 CHA: 18

By making a middle-aged character, I can get:
STR 11-1 [age] = 10
DEX 13+2 [race] -1 [age] = 14
CON 11-1 [age] = 10
INT 15+1 [age] +1 [lvl 4] +1 [lvl 8] = 18
WIS 11-2 [race] +1 [age] = 10
CHA 15 +2[race] +1 [age] = 18

At 12 and 16 I'll up CHA to a full 20.

Alternatively I could go with a total 12 CON and 8 WIS, but I don't really like having a -1 on will saves even if they are my stronger ones... What do you think? Is that 1HP/lvl worth it?

I've decided to go with the Tiefling varian Rakshasa-Spawn (Beastbrood, because it has nice bonuses and the tail can come in handy!

The spelling feat seems great, it fits perfectly my idea! I'm not sure it works with seamless performance though, since it seem like another kind of performance (and I can't keep two performances up at the same time)

I was looking at the Masked Performer, but it's not what I'm looking for. He focuses on one persona, doesn't get anything for other disguises. Also it loses a few nice things from bard (bardic knowledge, versatile performance) in exchange for very little in my opinion.

Why is the handy haversack better?

Hello!
I'm trying to build a working character out of the concept of an actor, one of those travelling with other entertainers from town to town. As any great performer, he will look for trouble and will always pick a risky great gesture over a safer but boring approach.

But first things first: the "rules".
I want to make an 8th level character, and study its build up to level 16 (or even 20, but I doubt I'll get that far). He will begin with a 20 point buy, and fewer golds than the standard amount (around 20k). Paizo only.

A few important things he will have to do:
- Be great at fooling people (lie, disguise, forge documents and such)
- Be able to charm people, either with words or spells
- Be able to attack without being too obvious, possibly during a performance (thinking throwing poisoned darts or something similar; also thinking sword cane would be great). An alternative would be taking some weapon with the perform special ability, which would also be great.

The role of this character in combat will be marginal; he will have healing spells and wands, some buffs and some ways to control or incapacitate enemies. He will be at the center of attention not thanks to huge damage with his sword or enormous fireballs raining all over, but because of the role-play behind each of his actions.

Races:
I know the Human is always a great option, due to his free feat. But they are also boring as hell.
Here's a few classes I'm thinking could work:

- Tiefling varian Rakshasa-Spawn (Beastbrood): stats are great (+2 DEX +2 CHA, -2 WIS), disguise and sense motive bonuses come in handy, and detect thoughts as a spell like ability is not bad. Also, I could get prehensile tail, which is awesome.

- Drow: again great stats (+2 DEX, +2 CHA, -2 CON), poison use can really help (I'm thinking throwing poisonous darts while performing, or stabbing someone while dancing), and some other nice things.

- Aasimar variant Peri-Blooded (Emberkin): perfect stats (+2 CHA +2 INT), could get Truespeaker which is a nice alternate trait and pyrotechnics is not bad for performing. Not really sure about it.

Based on which class I take, the Point Buy would change. My objective is to have high CHA and INT. STR will be my main dump stat.
Assuming I'll take Drow or Tiefling, I'll have a +2 DEX +2 CHA, and putting a 12 on either CON or WIS to counter the -2, I'll end up with this: STR: 7 DEX: 14 CON: 10 INT: 16 WIS: 10 CHA: 18. At this point I can either add 2 points (from lvl 4 and 8) to CHA, going to a full 20, or to INT, for a nice 18 (since skills will be my most important contribution to the party). What do you think?

Classes:

- Bard is a must, of course. I've been looking at archetypes, but i'm not truly satisfied by what I could find. The Busker is the only one that got my attention, because stunts would let me go one step further in my performances, and fit the idea of the dare chaser. Street performer is not really worth it mechanically, and daredevil sounds nice but I would lose my inspire courage, which is something I'd prefer to keep as a backup.

- Investigator is interesting, being able to take both the Infiltrator and Sleuth archetypes. I would lose alchemy (not interested), poison stuff (which is a shame, but I can still use poisons), and I would gain great advantages on disguise and a luck pool for some cool dares. I'm not really interested in the studied strikes and such, so I could do with just 2 levels in investigator; i could get a third just to get a talent (Underworld inspiration would help, just like some rogue talents)

- Swashbuckler: I believe he really fits the concept, but I'm not sure it's a great idea mechanically. First, it would add to the luck pool, which is nice. As for archetypes, the Inspired Blade would give me a ton of Panache, but that's pretty much it... I'm not sure about it, and it would probably only fit one level to gain the first deeds (3 levels would be better, but I would be too much behind on bard).

Feats:
At the beginning, assuming I'm not taking human, I have 4 feats. I am considering taking an exotic weapon proficiency, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. I COULD get heirloom weapon as a trait, to go around the proficiency, but it's really risky; i've lost my heirloom weapon in the past, and it SUCKS.

Skill focus is always an option, and I would have plenty of skill to choose from. Extra performance can be an option.

I'm not an expert on "strange" feats, so I ask for your help finding feats that let me do stuff that I can't do now, not just empower what I already have.

Traits:
I have no clue yet. There are plenty good ones, and I guess I'll probably use them to fix some small issues after the rest of the build is done.

Magic Items and Equipment
Sleeves of many garments are cheap and awesome. Hat of disguise is another kinda cheap item I can easily get my hands on.
After that, I'm lost. Which way should I go? Spending money on magic weapons seems silly, but if I take an exotic weapon then I doubt I'll ever find one to replace it with. Magic armour? maybe, but I'd rather spend the money to get a +2 on a stat...
Bag of holdings is something I will truly need; i'll have to keep items to change my appearance, and with my great 7 in STR, I can't live without one.
Other good items?

I'd like to have your input, and hear what you think would be good to get and what I should definitely forget about. I can't promise I will, but I'd like to hear your opinion.

I will try to make a more in depth build (up to level 16), only after I have a solid base at level 8.

Thanks in advance for the tips!

Ok, this is getting out of hand.

As for the Crimes vs Civil Offences, it just a matter of speaking.
What I intended is committing a crime = breaking a law. It can be a petty crime, such as disrespecting a guard or stealing an apple, or a serious crime such as murdering or torturing someone.

Of course each place will have his own laws, so what is and what isn't a crime will change depending on where we are.

My "90%..." example included everything, even speeding. Where I live speed limits are not enforced as much as in the US, so people usually go way above the limits unless they know there is a cop nearby or one of those machines that catch you if you speed. I'm not saying that 90% of the people would kill someone of course!

Back to the main topic:
My examples might have given you a wrong idea. Our group is NOT full of criminals, and usually we do not commit crimes. We haven't stolen stuff from a single merchant yet (or anyone, unless you consider looting a dungeon stealing from the monsters), nor have killed innocents and so on. The only borderline-evil act we have done is "kidnapping" a person in her own house. To be more specific, we were looking for her partner (because of a bounty on his head), and she caught us in their home; so we tied her arms and forced her to bring us to his hiding post (without physically hurting her). He escaped, but we got the stolen goods, so we brought her to the guards and gave them all the stolen stuff.

My examples, admittedly some bad ones, are just hypothetical stuff that might or might not happen in the future. We are not leaning towards evil acts, but nobody can say what will happen in the future, especially if someone dies and rolls in a new character.

Again, thanks for being willing to bear with me!

Thanks everyone for the tips.

A few things:
1. non violent crimes are not necessarily evil, and might even be good in some rare occasions. A few examples: beating up a criminal can be a neutral or even good act if he was going to hurt some innocents; stealing is evil if you ruin the life of someone, but if you snatch a few gold pieces from a rich merchant, his life won't change a bit, so it's neutral (and you could even make it good if those money were from a criminal and go to a good cause); if you forge a document to get in a building, or similar, nobody is getting hurt, so it's a neutral action at worse (again, or even good if it's to help someone). And so on.

2. I don't agree with the guy in the video. People are not LG usually. Take us for example: we don't commit crimes not because we believe firmly in the law, but because we fear the consequences. If we were sure we didn't get caught, 90% of the people here would commit some crime...

3. The DM doesn't allow non-LG paladins, so that's not an option :(

4. I really enjoy GM Rednal code of conduct, thanks for sharing it!

5. Bob bob bob, we have very different views. If even lying is an evil act, then the paladin should bash his party all day long, becoming a very annoying character to be around. As I said in point 1, many crimes can have different shades, depending on why you are committing it and who is the "victim". An evil lord deserves all its coming to him. We don't plan on robbing a poor beggar, but we might steal a few potions if we can't afford them... Nobody plans on him to do it, but we don't want him to call the guards either if he knows it, or even complain all the time. I know it will depend on how he plays, but that's another story.

Said so, thanks everyone for the tips! I'll have my friend read it before we start playing!

Hello! I need your advice on the following topic.
A friend of mine is building a Paladin (Oathbound, charity); as usual, he's going Lawful Good, but we would like to find a way to make it less "annoying" for the party.

In other words, we are looking for ideas on how to justify actions (both made by him or the party members in his presence) that usually fall under the Neutral or even Chaotic spectrum (No evil acts).

Since the Lawful aspect of an alignment is quite open to interpretation (a lot more than Good), it's not impossible to "cheat" your way out of it, without actually changing alignment.

So which ways would you use to "transform" non-lawful acts (such as non-violent crimes) into lawful (good) ones?
Would you write a "code of conduct" yourself, instead of simply abiding the law of the land (or a specific order's code), and if so which points would you add to it?
How would you convince the paladin that what you did doesn't go against his code?

Any tip is appreciated!

I was looking for something a bit more specific. Of course everyone benefits by being able to carry more items, but are there some "hidden" bonuses?

For example, what happens if you carry two tower shields? I know the AC bonus doesn't stack, but would you be able to gain cover on two sides at once?

What happens if you grapple with all four arms, instead of just two? Do you get some bonus to your grapple check?

Do you get any bonus to skill, such as climb? It should be easier to climb (or at least harder to lose grip) when you have 3 or 4 arms, shouldn't it?

Would you be able to use oversized 2H weapons? Since an oversized weapons goes from light to 1H, and from 1H to 2H, would a 2H go to 3/4H?

And so on...

I wasn't aware of the Kasatha, thanks for the suggestion.

I'm not trying to build an OP character for a campaign. I was mostly curious about it's potential.

As far as I know Forewarned doesn't prevent you from being surprised. You can always act in surprise rounds, but those who act before you still hit on flat-footed.

Not sure what the 2 bonus feats have to do with my question, but I wouldn't give it either. Being a quadruped gives you bonuses to speed and carry capabilities already, so why giving you two entire feats?

Hello!
I was looking into race creation, and noticed you can build a character with up to 4 arms. That's better than the alchemist discovery, because you can actually use it to gain multiple attacks from my understanding.

So I began wondering, which classes and builds would benefit the most by having multiple arms?

I did look at gestalt, and it doesn't work for a simple reason: this is supposed to be a two player's character. Gestalt are great, but while you get 2 classes and all the best stuff, you still have the default actions at your disposal: 1 swift action, 1 move action, 1 standard action. There is no way for two player to share a gestalt character without taking turns (they couldn't act on the same turn)

If I apply the gestalt rules to my concept, I fear it would end up to be much stronger than two separate characters.

I completely agree with Rhaleroad. You gave him the chance to do most of this stuff, without stopping him.

This is one of the reasons many DM prohibit Evil alignments: people don't know the difference between an Evil character and a dumb psychopath.

CN characters COULD work with a Paladin if they are willing to do a lot of stuff without being seen. Pretending to leave an offering on the alter, while actually taking something of more value. Pretending to be a good fella by offering some food to a beggar, but having it poisoned with something that takes a while to kill him (so that the Paladin sees you do a "good action", which is an evil one in reality). And so on...
Clearly your friend is not into that kind of gameplay, so it doesn't work.

And whatever "He believed" doesn't really matter. You are the DM, you make the rules. Even the player handbook says that the rules are just there to help, but the DM has unlimited power over it.

I'm glad to see the party woke up and left him behind. Now, you can either kick him from the table, or give him a seconda chance forcing him with a non evil alignment. See how he behaves, and if he creates problems you just take him out OOC. No need for explanations, he will just vanish like if he was an illusion.

I like the rolls idea, it might work!

Traits and Drawbacks are of secondary importance for now.

No additional arms, the build has to be as similar to the original Cho'Gall as possible.

I've looked into the Eidolon, and I think it could work if it was one player commanding everything. But since we want to be two players in the same body, one would end up playing the Eidolon with its limits; I don't see it happening...

Thanks for the tips!

Did you ever think that it could be also your fault?

I've dealt with problematic players multiple times, and I can tell you that if you want to stop them, you can. So while his initial behaviour is his own fault, the fact that he keeps pulling this crap is also your fault.

Here's a few way to approach the situation:

1. THE "EASY WAY OUT": since talking to him OOC didn't get results, just kick him out of the group. Be honest, and tell him that while you enjoy his friendship IRL, he's behaving like an ass in game.

2. THE "ABDUCTION" Simply take out his character. He could be actually kidnapped, or just get killed, or when arrested given death penalty or life sentence. There are plenty of ways to take him out without hurting the rest of the party.

3. THE "AN EYE FOR AN EYE": he makes your life (and your players) a living hell? Do the same. Put him against impossible odds. Get him constantly arrested by guards, spending time in jail while the party can play through town; have him contract a very rare disease with an impossible saving throw, something that hits his most important stats; have him cursed by a deity, so that he has to re-roll any successful attack or skill check; do stuff like that, making the game terrible for him unless he changes behaviour. He starts behaving? Good! His reputation will go up, so won't be constantly arrested. Maybe he finds the cure. Maybe the deity lifts the curse because he repents.

4. THE "OPPENHEIMER": "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". As a DM, you are above everything else; with a snap of your fingers even deities can die. Since the party doesn't seem like it's doing anything to stop him, but yet complains about him, punish them all. TPK can seem a harsh solution, but it's still one. Maybe make one or two of them survive, but other players die often puts things in a different prospective.

5. THE "BYE BYE": he causes troubles, but without big consequences. Next time, have the consequences be so massive that the party's only choice is to leave him behind. If the party actually hates how he behaves, they won't go towards sure death if they can simply abandon him. Take your deity example: the god himself could have intervened, forcing the party to either fight the divine, or let the god smite their "friend".

And so on... Those are just ideas, some harsher than others, to deal with him. But if you let him get away with everything, he has no reason to stop. Taking away his powers (hitting his stats, or actually taking away spells and such with some exploit) and wealth can often change a player's behaviour.

Any DM should always have some ruling about what he accepts and what not. Saying NO to a player is always an option, but it has to be thought trough. Many DM don't allow delicate topics such as torture or assaults. Other don't let players turn against each other, from stealing from a fellow member to trying to hit them or kill them in their sleep. Everyone has his "NO" moment, even if you try to allow everything there will always be something you will say NO to. So start saying no to him.

As a DM, I punish players if they ruin the game for the rest of the party. As a player I'm more limited, which is why I blame my DM if he doesn't do anything solid to stop him.

From your examples, it seems like you let him get away with anything. He gets arrested? Oh, he'll just get out if he promises not to break the rules (which he will, both because the player is a jerk and because the character is CE). He curses a deity in their own temples? Oh well, someone will get upset, but no biggie.
PUNISH HIM. You don't want.to kill him? Fine, cut off one of his limbs as a punishment; or his tongue. Have him cursed by the deity. DO SOMETHING.

We did think about taking the best saves, but it would be much stronger than the average player. I guess an average could work.

Twice the points is too much, it allows for too high scores... Take a standard 15 point buy, would get them to a 30 point buy, which allows for huge scores on all stats. Maybe going just one step higher (+5 points) would be enough? Or two at best (+10)

I do like the idea of a special feat for that, great suggestion!

From splintersoul's splintered identity class feature:

For example, a splintersoul with barbarian levels, a lawful-good social identity, and a neutral vigilante identity can’t use his vigilante talents or his rage class feature while in his social identity, but he regains these abilities and can use them as normal as soon as he changes to his vigilante identity.

Should this be interpreted as a fix to unchained barbarian (released prior to Antihero's Handbook), which omits rules for ex-barbarians?

Has anyone made a homebrew system for hypothermia that doesn't require rolling at least 24 d20s every day the party hangs out in kinda chilly weather? I was envisioning some sort of resource pool that ticks down when the character is exposed to cold, with warm clothing being able to reduce the amount by which the pool decreases per hour.

I'm working up some libraries for my PCs to use for research while visiting Absalom. The two I'm currently working on are the private archives of the monks below the Irorium (one of the PCs has a connection), as well as the Forae Logos.

(Aside: If you're one of my players, this is the point at which I'd ask you to stop reading!)

I'm trying to build these libraries based on the guidelines set out in Ultimate Intrigue (SRD link), where you determine three or more key skills that can be used to research in the library.

The problem is, I can't really figure out which skills are appropriate for a library maintained by a bunch of monks of a god of knowledge, when there's another much huger library only a mile or so away in the Forae Logos. What's the defining feature of the Irorian library? What skills would be good for this library? Would it just be Knowledge (arcana, planes, and religion)?

I am not sure if unattended intelligent magic items asked to roll Will are intended to only roll [[1d20+Wis]] or if they should be rolling [[1d20+2+(CL/2)+Wis]].

A magic item doesn't need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save. Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them—even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. Magic items use the same saving throw bonus for all saves, no matter what the type (Fortitude, Reflex, or Will). A magic item's saving throw bonus equals 2 + 1/2 its caster level (rounded down). The only exceptions to this are intelligent magic items, which make Will saves based on their own Wisdom scores.

As a tool for getting new players into the game, it's hard to beat AON and the PFSRD. It's great that these services exist and that Paizo is willing to give them advance access! But there is still a lot of free labor going into enriching game accessibility that Paizo benefits from, especially now that AON is the Paizo-sponsored SRD. Are the people maintaining AON getting a minimum wage from their Patreon? If not, has Paizo offered to pay them a wage and provide health insurance?

(feel free to move if this is the wrong forum)

That is to say, does it actually cast the spell and roll the breath of life dice? If so, what is the presumed caster level?

Breath of life
Channeled Revival

Coming this October: Paizonian Race Production Month

PaRaProMo 2016 and 2017 ended successfully (and 2018 was almost a success), and now it's time to start preparing for 2019!

The guidelines of Parapromo are simple. For the majority of the year, we're gonna do what Paizo does best: Make lists of things that probably shouldn't exist. To be precise, we're going to compile a list of short race ideas. You can include basic descriptions of ideas, but avoid specifying anything too long-winded or rules-y. Just list ideas for PC races to play. (Also, some people like to get comedic with their suggestions. That's okay, but don't go too overboard. It makes it a lot harder to adapt, say, a sweater worn by a cat into a race. We can do it, but it's a lot harder.)

Then, in the month of October, it gets interesting—because we'll be combining our efforts to shove thirty-one of these races into statistical beauty for all to admire and envy.

Q: What's counted as a race?
A: This year, we're going to switch to a format that's a little more forgiving. Now, we will be counting subraces individually, and the description block (Physical Description, Society, Relations, etc.) that some folks write will also be counted as a separate race. Furthermore, Starfinder and Pathfinder 2nd Edition stats will also be counted as separate races. With these measures, we're SURE to meet our goal. Right? . . . Right?
Q: Can I get advice on making a race?
A: Check this post! The Pathfinder Race Builder is a good place to start for statistics!
Q: When do I start posting race ideas?
A: Right now!
Q: When should I start making a race based on a posted idea?
A: On the 1st of October!
Q: When do I have to be done?
A: Before the 1st of November!
Q: What do I win?
A: Absolutely nothing!
Q: Are there any race ideas left over from last year that I should be aware of?
A: Oh, yep:

A lot of APs after RiotR take place in Varisia. Assuming I want to later run more of these APs with the same group of players, what easter eggs, rumors and "news items" should I not miss? For example, I know that Ameiko plays a role in Jade Regent, so I am making sure to establish her character, even though we are skipping Burnt Offerings for Skinsaw.

I may instead be a player in future APs, so would prefer just the hints (if you want to explain the importance, please use a spoiler)!

What other things besides Ameiko being cool and having an adventuring past should I establish in Sandpoint, Magnimar, and beyond?

For comparison
Legend lore

We used this spell in our game last night and felt it was a little too powerful as written. What we noted:

• Can use Perception in place of Diplomacy - using the most-invested skill in place of any other skill really devalues the other skill and the characters who've invested in it. As long as you have access to this spell, the mage and the perceptive person will play a more important role in getting information than a character who goes out canvassing the town with Diplomacy.
• Faster than legend lore
• More diverse information than legend lore (1 topic per caster level). If focused all on one topic, can instead almost guarantee a natural 20+Perception bonus, which in some cases is better than legend lore, a 4th-6th level spell
• No costly material component

Does anyone have thoughts on how ears of the city should be rebalanced? Or disagree with our assessment?

Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

Coming this October: Pazonian Race Production Month

PaRaProMo 2016 and 2017 ended successfully, and now it's time to start preparing for 2018!
The guidelines here are simple. For the majority of the year, we're gonna do what Paizo does best: Make lists of things that probably shouldn't exist. To be precise, we're going to compile a list of short race ideas. You can include basic descriptions of ideas, but avoid specifying anything too firm or rules-y. Just list ideas for PC races to play. (Also, some people like to get comedic with their suggestions. That's okay, but don't go too overboard. It makes it a lot harder to adapt, say, a sweater worn by a cat into a race. We can do it, but it's a lot harder.)

Then, in the month of October, it gets interesting—because we'll be combining our efforts to shove thirty-one of these races against the membranes of reality until it gives way and they are described and statted for all to see. We'll be using Paizo's Race Builder where possible.

Guidelines for race creation (consult in October):

• Follow Paizo format. You don’t have to go in depth on alternate racial traits and racial weapons and so forth, but it’s much easier to refer to the races if you follow Paizo’s template.
  
• Think about how your race fits into a world. It could be Golarion, it could be a Pact World, it could be a homebrew. What is their ecology? How do they eat, breathe, drink, sleep, reproduce (without getting graphic)? Do they have good relations with other species?
  
• Don’t be afraid of getting weird! While the “2d anime waifu” is by far PaRaProMo’s most popular output, favorites among those who create races include the “hedgehog people that ride giant roosters,” the “slime people, but they all look like Slimer from Ghostbusters,” and the “sentient semi-mortal undead that disintegrate from zombies into clouds of sentient ash.” This is THE place to depart from the humanoid assumption.
  
• Make sure the race can be played by multiple character types - it’s fine if the statistics include some particular benefit for characters of a certain class, but it shouldn’t be one-sided. Try to have a mix of both skill and combat-related abilities.
  
• Have a power level in mind and compare your in-progress race to one or two Paizo-published races before you settle on its statistics. The Race Point system is a good way to get a feel of how powerful your race should be - most races for this project should fall between 6 and 15 RP. I suggest estimating the race points of each ability in parentheses after the ability name.
  
• Give races unique abilities. Making a race isn’t just assembling a bunch of abilities from the Race Builder - you’re ultimately at liberty to build each species from scratch, and previous years’ most popular races have all had at least one new ability.
  
• Give races flavor! What makes them special beyond their appearance?

Some people like to roll randomly to choose their race prompts, which is why these are numbered. Others prefer to choose, or have their races chosen for them by others. Either is fine. All that matters is that we combine our totals to reach the magic number: Thirty-one.

Anyways, spoilered below is a collection of race ideas from the last two years. Just to kick us off.

A dry desert wind coursed through the sheltered port city of Sarkeslion, making the ten hundred wind baffles on its eastern edge clatter in syncopation to the ten million rustling leaves of its garden forest. Above the gentle roar of steel-drying ovens, the rattling of cart wheels, and the sandy hiss of a spinehair trader's tail, it brought with it snatches of conversation in a dozen tongues – ”Taste this!” ”-infested with glutton globs” ”Give thanks-” ”-tunnels are collapsed!” The desert's sulfurous breath was mollified slightly by the smells of the city – the raspberry tang of a fumelung's smoke and the warm scent of fresh fish burritos - but it was still nose-prickingly dry and acrid.

The Mnarast Plaza, just inside Sarkeslion’s eastern gate and just down from the crest of Souann Hill, has been the meeting place for as long as anyone can remember. It’s where the Latislanders are said to have first made an accord of peace with the Setter peoples, guaranteeing them the right to bring their herds through the city and the fenced farms of its outlying areas. It’s where hotchi children unhitch their herd animals and set up stalls with fruit, corn, and live animals for sale - and then spend most of their time chatting and goofing off with other youths. It’s also where travelers come together to form caravans and seek companions - most of them taking the overland route to Northcity, but a few heading south along the coast to Hammer Village, and a rare number heading to isolated settlements on the eastern slope of the Barrier Wall. A wooden post in the center of the plaza is also the place to post notices requesting travelling companions.

The wind had stilled by the time they reached the first wind baffle, and the whole field of slender silver poles with their pinwheel-like tops hung silent in contrast to the laughter, shouting, and clangor of the city. The yellow sun, directly overhead, made their shadows starkly black against the bare grey road. The road stretches straight on eastwards, slowly gaining elevation as it cuts through cattail paddies and cornfields. Far ahead, the three of them can see the Barrier Wall, the mountain range that holds Sarkeslion like an egg in an upturned palm.

And then Relys, Frog, and Lyra hear, behind, the revving engine of one of those rare ancient devices that moves on its own power. Turning around, they see a brilliant blue car racing towards them, kicking up a thin cloud of dust behind it. The car screeches to a halt about a hundred feet away, and its driver and passengers disembark.

For your first post, remind everyone what your character looks like? Otherwise, feel free to play this out as you want. I figured in media res (aka having already just started the journey) would help us avoid a 2-week-long introduction/backstory-describing phase, while having two sets of characters still necessitates in-character introductions.

The "What did we do this morning?" on the doc is still canon, but feel free to embellish on it as you improvise your backstories in relation to each other during roleplay. Why you responded to the posting for traveling companions is definitely worth working into RP!

Welcome to the discussion thread! Off-topic chatter, and particularly notice about absences and delays, goes here.

I'm aware of the fact that at least 3 of the players share a Discord channel, but I ask that you include your co-players on any discussions relevant to this game here on the thread. If it becomes clear that's not workable, we can make a Discord channel for the whole group to use.

While I get the starting post prepared and we have the final player confirm their position, I encourage you all to introduce yourselves and work on characters together. Your characters as posted on the thread don't need to be set in stone - for example, this is an excellent opportunity to shore up any skill shortages. I also encourage you to work together to intertwine your backstories, at least to the extent of determining why you decided to make this journey together. I'm available to provide guidance on background weaving, and will definitely be reading anything you post in here.

To start off the introductions, you can call me Gark, GM, Coelocanth, Fish, or anything else that suits your fancy and is obviously referring to me. I use male pronouns (he/him), and it's my birthday today! I'll be playing most of the NPCs.

A dry desert wind courses through the sheltered port city of Sarkeslion, making the ten hundred wind baffles on its eastern edge clatter in syncopation to the ten million rustling leaves of its garden forest. Above the gentle roar of steel-drying ovens, the rattling of cart wheels, and the sandy hiss of a spinehair trader's tail, it brings with it snatches of conversation in a dozen tongues – ”Taste this!” ”-infested with glutton globs” ”Give thanks-” ”-tunnels are collapsed!” The desert's sulfurous breath is mollified slightly by the smells of the city – the raspberry tang of a fumelung's smoke and the warm scent of fresh fish burritos.

From temple-studded Souaan Hill on the outskirts of town, one can see the Island Sea stretching away into the western horizon. If one turns around, one can see the Barrier Wall swallowing up the eastern. Orcish steam-powered paddleships laden with priceless iron from distant Borage, and cirrip ice-draggers bearing whole frozen sea beasts, dock at the crescent-shaped harbor, while wagons full of hotchi adolescents and fresh produce trundle freely in on the dusty planed road through the eastern gate. The city has already woken and begun its morning business, but four Sarkeslians have yet to embark on theirs.

I'm opening recruitment for a travelogue game based in a homebrew setting, using the Pathfinder system. This game will prioritize roleplay over combat, with the ratio being respectively about 60:40. The theme is something like ”Wild West, but without the racism and exploitation,” and the setting takes a lot of aesthetic inspiration from the American Great Basin.

What's a travelogue? For me, it's a story that showcases a number of unique locations and cultures, with more focus on that experience than on villains or catastrophes. It's early Star Trek, or Kill Six Billion Demons, or Louise Erdrich, or even Their Eyes Were Watching God. Kobold Cleaver's "We're Gonna Take a Walk Outside Today" is also a good example of a travelogue story in PBP format, though I'm hoping to spend less time on each specific area.

What's the system? We'll be running Pathfinder with my houserules. I am open to suggestions for new houserules, or criticism about those I currently have in place.

What's the setting? To a large extent, that depends on you! We'll be expanding my base setting information by creating characters and playing – players will be encouraged to improvisationally flesh out towns, cultural artifacts, and even play NPCs as the situation allows. That said, I do have some ground-level facts about the setting and the starting area that I've posted in the spoiler labeled ”What does my character know about the world?”

How long will this last? We'll run one episode – taking a few months in real life, but lasting about one level and encompassing several hundred miles in-game – and then pause, potentially continuing the game into a longer campaign or ending at that point. See ”Things to know for the future” for a little bit more info about, well, the future.

How much do I need to post? You're welcome to post more often than me, but I want at least 3 posts per week from all players (including myself!).

What content are we going to avoid? I want to avoid slavery, rape, and child abuse. I don't want to whitewash the world, but I also don't want to try and tell people what experiencing these really awful things is like as a white man with a fair bit of privilege (and I've seen far too many backstories that begin with ”after his sister was sold into slavery . . .”). There are plenty of very good serious games out there where you can delve into those topics, but I want to keep this game's tone relatively light.

With regards to player behavior: If you've got a problem with anti-imperialist stories, non-binary gender identities, or sensitively representing things like mental illness, you're probably not going to have fun in this game. Just don't punch down!

Okay. How do I apply? Post the following two things:

• A summary of your PBP and writing-based roleplay experience. If you don't have any PBP experience whatsoever, I'm keeping a few slots open for newbies. If you do have PBP experience, I'd really appreciate at least a link to your favorite game (or the one where you did the best roleplay) so I can figure out if our styles will mesh. Information about your experience with PBP will be a primary factor in player selection.
• A character concept, and your ability score rolls (if you want to try rolling, that is - there are no penalties for doing so and then changing to Point Buy). Note that you have to roll ability scores in your first post if you want to use rolls. You don't have to include any statistics to submit a concept, but if you do want to generate a whole character, take a look at the ”How do I make a character?” spoiler below!

Consult the following spoilers for information about me as a GM, the setting, the character creation process, and a few notes for future reference.

I'm thinking about running a travelogue game on PBP here on the forums, probably using Pathfinder. I'm not married to the system or the setting, but would likely use one or the other to have more familiarity as I GM. It would likely be episodic, possibly with a rotating cast. It would involve the party exploring the world, through any number of transit methods, without the threat of some prophecy or villain always looming: that old chestnut of focusing on the journey, not on the destination.

The reason I'm still only thinking about starting this game is that I'm continuing my Swedish education online next month, and don't want to overload myself before I know that the coursework is doable. However, to date my most popular games have been travelogues, and I enjoy imagining fantastic locales enough that I would still want to run this game if I was doing 8 hours of schoolwork a day.

I have a bit of experience GMing online. I am currently running one travelogue-ish game on Roll20, and maintain a journal for it here; I also ran a one-shot PBP with a name I regret, which you can read here, and currently run a PBP of unknown duration for a game that was originally on roll20 here (not my best GMing work, I think, but a bit more up to date than the AMF game). I have also played in several PBPs on Paizo, with my role in Kobold Cleaver's Age of Worms being the longest-lasting. These links should give you a rough idea of the amount of roleplaying and description I want to provide as a GM.

If I do decide to run this, I'd like players who:

• Can usually post at least 5 times a week
  
• Would be happy in a game where 50-70% of the action is roleplay
  
• Take decisive action - no waiting for 2 weeks to agree to open a door, yeah?
  
• Like reading purple prose about nature and cities :V
  
• Like playing in a diverse world
  
• Communicate what they want from the game and don't hesitate to improvise
  
• Respect their fellow messageboard users (no punching down)

If you're interested in playing, post here with what you'd like to get out of a travelogue game. System, setting, tone, technology level, any plot elements - everything's fair game. I'd also appreciate links to any of your prior PBPs or campaigns, if you have them. Please refrain from character building for now - like, you're welcome to create as many OCs as you want, but you'll have no idea if they'll fit the setting or system or party we end up having.

I'll be back by the 12th of January to say whether or not I'll be able to run this game, and will probably choose players soon after. Until then, I'll be here to answer questions and read your input.

I'm trying to brew up some ways to tie together City of Seven Spears, and one of the ways I'm going to do that is by having each district have a specific major secret that will help piece together the greater story of Savith (based on this post). In the below, bracketed text is notes about things behind the GM screen that won't be revealed when the secret is. Any feedback would be very appreciated.

Savith's History
The heroine Savith was born on an island southeast of Azlant, an island that had for unknown eons been ruled by serpentfolk. The serpentfolk of this unnamed island kept a large stock of human slaves – too many, in fact. When Ydersius' attention was focused on the Azlanti war in the northern continent, it diverted resources from its more secure holdings, and it was in just this time that Savith came of age. Independent of any cleric, any book, she began extolling rights and virtues that awakened her fellow slaves into a revolutionary fury. As one, they broke free of the mental bonds, rose up against their masters, and fled to Azlant's shores. [the island Savith grew up on sank during Earthfall, OR could be Smuggler's Shiv with some pre-planning]
What Savith did to then become the leading general of Azlant's armies is unknown, but she did so quickly. Within five years, her favored weapon had not just been enchanted with mythical power, but five copies had been made for each of her five lesser generals: a cyclops with the power to see the future, an elven saint who was also Savith's lover, a Mwangi halfling paladin who had liberated her own people, an Azlanti battle mage with a storm of ioun stones, and a “noble” ghoul who would kill only serpentfolk. [3 of these weapons were lost when Azlant fell, one is Eroeme, and one was left in Savith's Tomb by her greatest friend; any of these weapons grants immunity to domination in a 70-foot radius; the halfling founded Mzali?]
As the serpentfolk were chased from their redoubt in Sverenagati, Savith led her army to Garund. Her mages used artifacts gifted by the elves to teleport her entire army from the surface to Ilmurea thousands of feet below. [these artifacts were later repurposed to create the portal in the Vaults of Madness]
As her generals battled the serpentfolk empire's last great army, Savith tracked down Ydersius alone. Though poisoned, she invested all of her mythic power into one final strike, slicing his head from his body, and cast his skull into a lake of fire. His body she kicked down a hole into the deepest pits of the earth.
Savith's sword rotted away from the venom, and she died with her saint at her side as the battle continued to rage. The serpentfolk were routed, but the ghoul was slain by the Emperor of Scales. [the ghoul's weapon was returned to Azlant and lost there]
Savith's remaining generals, Azlant's bureaucrats, and thousands of followers built a memorial to their heroine: an entire city. Savith's Tomb, the Seven Spears – everything in every district adds in some way to Savith's glory. [this information would be best granted in the district with the Tomb entrance]
Unfortunately, this glory was but shortly appreciated. Just a hundred years after Savith's death, the first split occurred: The sizeable cult of Zura was banished from Saventh-Yhi for seeking to transform the entire population into undead. Later, as Earthfall neared, denizens of the city began experiencing troubling visions. Hundreds of years after Savith's death, a priest of Pharasma named Urschlar Vohkavi rose to prominence by expounding on the inevitable death that waited for everyone in the city. The people of Saventh-Yhi became paranoid, fearful, and constructed underground vaults to hide their valuables. They cut off trade with the surrounding Mwangi nations, and Urschlar and a whole coterie of mages layered powerful protections to prevent both entry and exit from the slowly declining city. [then when the Starstone hit, of course, everyone died fast]

Do the broad strokes look good? I'm particularly unsure about who the other four generals (Aveshai, of course, needs to stay the way he is) should be. I'm also unsure if I should make the teleportation method be part of the Vaults, because I'm not going to have my players use the Vaults - they're going to have to find their own way through the Darklands - and foreshadowing artifacts that the PCs don't get to use could be a bummer. Most importantly, I want canon corrections based on what we actually know about Savith. It's hard to make sure timelines track when you have to cross-reference four different books, haha.

This situation just came up in a game (caster is the halfling with the ponytail). I can't tell if the Large enemy halfway behind a door is affected by burning hands that starts out pointing directly at that closed half of the door.

A burst spell affects whatever it catches in its area, including creatures that you can't see. It can't affect creatures with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don't extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst's area defines how far from the point of origin the spell's effect extends.

The enemy doesn't have total cover (italicized), but the spell does have to go around a corner (bolded) the way I see it.

It's a given that the enemy gets normal cover (+2 Reflex) from the closed part of the door, but does the spell affect it at all?

How many do they get? I don't have my Bestiary with me and the PRD only says they get a single claw plus their bite. But then they wouldn't qualify for Multiattack?

Lizard zombie

So uh, I'm looking at something with 22 hp, +7 to hit, and 1d8+4/1d6+4 damage (bite and slam respectively). According to the HD rules, that's a CR 1 monster right there. Is that really CR 1?

Are there any fey with the air subtype besides the Jabberwock? One of my players has a sylph but wants the sylph to be related to some sort of fey. I may just tell her that her witch patron is some kind of fey, though.

There are a few threads collating information about meals in Golarion. But any culture worth its salt has entire books devoted to cooking. Until we get the "Food of Golarion" player companion, this thread is a place to list fan-made things people might eat in the Inner Sea and beyond.

I'll start:

1. Peach slices on honey-soaked sunflower seed focaccia - a popular dessert in western Arcadia, where peach trees originating in Minkai are the current rage

I have a player who wants to make their character's parents cultists of Apep (she's from Osirion), and I realized that Apep and Ydersius seem to share a similar niche. Is there enough space for both in a Serpent's Skull campaign? Or would it be better to make Apep a "front" for Ydersius in Osirion & ancient Egypt? Would there be anything problematic about that?

The leg stabilizers in People of the Stars help with gravity greater than x1/3 and less than x1, but I can't find any planets in Distant Worlds where this actually helps. (Akiton and Aballon have gravity of x1/3 which is just barely too low!) Do folks think this was intentional - leg stabilizers only grant that +10 speed bonus on homebrewed planets/moons?

NPCs or PCs! Whether you plan to play them or just thought of something cool and want to share it, post here.

1. An alien from a planet without a spider analogue, who has inexplicable but debilitating arachnophobia
2. An alien with an overwhelming fear of some monster native to their planet, who actually moved offworld because of that fear
3. The Last Lizardfolk

A character uses detect undead on an area with a haunt in it. What aura strength do they detect?

I'm going to assume HD equal to the caster level for now.

So apparently Torag disappeared, along with Rovagug? Guess we gotta find a new name for their shared month. I vote "Aspis Month" in honor of that grand old organization.

Has anyone tried capping the level in any particular class at 6, but still allowing advancement in other classes and using the regular XP tracks? (So e.g. a brawler could get to level 6 and hit the cap, start taking levels in kineticist until reaching character level 12, and then start taking levels in another class.) It seems like one way to make E6 work with published APs where certain numerical values are expected of the PCs - stuff like hp, AC, and attacks won't scale too differently from a regular game without level caps. It also gives players permission to explore new classes without feeling they sacrificed ultimate power, while keeping that ultimate power from changing the GM's story every single session. And for those who are worried about 15-minute adventuring days, it would certainly mean more self-healing fighters and fewer nova-ing alchemists.

Disadvantages I see are that those published APs do expect certain spells at high levels, and that players would still have to choose their additional classes wisely over the long run (ideally everyone would pick up some sort of caster levels at some point, as a purely martial character would be more disadvantaged in this system than in regular E6). It's possible that non-buff spellcasting would really suck when you get to later books - you're facing mind-melting horrors of the distant past and your paltry 3rd-level spells just can't break through SR/saves at all. Something would have to be changed on the player or GM end: either remove those monsters or give characters the option to synergize spells of two different disciplines to emulate higher-level magic. Maybe this would finally be the time to build a system for adding multiclass caster levels.

Thoughts on problems with this idea? I don't have an AP, or even a player group, in mind for this system, but it'd be interesting to know if anyone's done something similar. Also, maybe it'd be better to do with an 8-level cap, so that all classes come into their own?

The Explorer's Guild's footing has always been tenuous. Since their inception, they've faced an unending campaign of sabotage waged by the kingpin of Eleder, the Lady Madrona Daugustana. In this war, friends have been arrested, statues have been defaced, and doppelganger droppings have been discovered. For about a year, while the Guild's numbers were reduced by an expedition to the ancient tiered city of Kembe, it has limped along with a short staff. Finally, however, the expedition returned - along with a new "expedition" from Smuggler's Shiv. The Shiv Survivors quickly became friends with the Explorer's Guild, which partnered with the Pathfinder Society to outfit an expedition to the lost Azlanti city of Saventh-Yhi. But this upheaval in the city politics also meant Daugustana's agents could act without scrutiny, and they made their most overt attack yet upon the SS Skeleton. The Explorer's Guild repelled the invaders, but the leadership knows that Daugustana sent those goons.

Half a dozen trolls were facing off against ten hobgoblins, several of which carried war-trained eagles on their gloved forearms. When the trolls suddenly noticed the explorers and turned around to attack, Nesica, Adi, and Juno let loose with their various explosive spells and weapons. The expedition felled trolls swiftly, but the other trolls also swiftly killed the hobgoblins and eagles. One hobgoblin was left standing, crossbow in hand, against two trolls, when suddenly a small green figure jumped out from behind a bush and shanked the hobgoblin in its calf - it was the long-lost Explorer's Guild goblin member, Gree. The hobgoblin collapsed, groaning, while the trolls attacked the new goblinoid. Fortunately, the other Guild members were able to scare off the last two trolls, but Gree was severely injured.

A wounded goblin ally is lying in a valley on the dusty trail from the Sargavan coast to Citadel Krane, surrounded by a pile of hobgoblin, eagle, and troll bodies. The sound of labored breathing comes from that pile. A blind eagle is making ever more erratic circles in the sky above. The rapidly receding footbeats of large humanoids is receding up the gulch to the northeast. And Juno, Adi, and Nesica are relatively unhurt.

Sunt and Ruch can have come on a separate expedition with Gree, if KC and Noah want to join in on this scene.

. . . And figured I'd ask for feedback here.

Priests of the following gods can use summon monster and summon nature's ally spells to summon the following creatures in addition to the normal creatures listed in the spells.

Thoth (LN god of magic, the moon, wisdom, and writing)
Summon monster i – baboon*
Summon monster ii – giant ibis (see below)*
Summon monster vi – axiomite, stymphalidies*
Summon monster vii – zelekhut
*This creature is summoned with the celestial template if you are good, or the fiendish template if you are evil; you may choose either if you are neutral.
Planar allies of Thoth include Benet, a LG young phoenix with the appearance of an enormous spoonbill.

Keltheald (CG deity of natural formations, sunsets, and vistas)
Summon monster i – hawk*
Summon monster iv – korred*, werebear*
Summon monster vii – cliff giant*
Summon monster viii – monadic deva
*This creature is summoned with the celestial template if you are good, or the fiendish template if you are evil; you may choose either if you are neutral.
Planar allies of Keltheald include Kvell, a CN jyoti that has abandoned its home plane.

Droskar (NE god of cheating, slavery, and toil)
Summon monster i – duergar*
Summon monster ii – giant scarab beetle (see Dungeon #134)*
Summon monster iv – forge spurned
Summon monster vi - goliath stag beetle*
*This creature is summoned with the celestial template if you are good, or the fiendish template if you are evil; you may choose either if you are neutral.
Planar allies of Droskar include Ember, an ash-colored plasma ooze, and Servant 087365, a sceaduinar which has devoted itself to Droskar's mission of grim creation.

Giant Ibis CR 1/2
XP 200
N Tiny animal
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12
Defense
AC 19, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 6 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +4
Offense
Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (poor)
Melee bite +7 (1d6)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 21, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 19, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 8
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +5, Perception +12, Stealth +17; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Ecology
Environment any swamps
Organization solitary or rookery (2-100)
Treasure none

Are there any obvious balance concerns? Any monsters that would just never be summoned because I missed a better summons of the same or lower level?

Translated from the Aklo.

Hey there. Name's Romo Slender. 'Cause I'm thin, right? I'm writing down some of the s$~# I've been through since it's possible I die horribly and someone needs to know what I've seen. And they might like to know that the world didn't use to be snowy.

You could say it all started when I was first thrown out into the forest, but I think a better starting place is when I met Sterris and Elder Natharen Sifander. They were heading south, I was heading south – we figured banding together would make us safer. It was very odd to have snow in Barovia, but there was nothing too odd about our trip until we came to a frozen stream and heard whizzing arrows and the clash of weapons. Some folks were fighting a strange water spirit, so Sterris and I joined in killing the creature and talked to 'em.

I made introductions. There was a strange short man with a high-pitched voice whose name I didn't catch but who I later found was named Tengezil Frimbocket, as well as one ”Mynama Kyneburg” who was the one making all the noise with a big sword I later found was named Aeglac. She didn't speak Balok, unfortunately. The last in the group was a woman named Armillia Fex, who'd been shooting the bow. There was also a gigantic clawed bird with them that seemed half-trained at best. Apparently they were looking for some lady who'd gotten grabbed by some bandits as the storm was coming on. I figured, a noble'd have good money, so why not go along with these folks and help?

We headed west, but were ambushed by a group of bandits with bows. We killed them without compunctions. The big strong fighter Kyneburg had gotten wounded so we went back to a hunter's shack owned by Armillia's mentor. Apparently, the man had wandered off into the woods looking for some sort of oversized ferret. The people looking for the noble (who was named Argentea Malassene of Dimentliu) had previously found some warm magicked tea waiting for them in the shack, but no such boon was waiting for us that day. We slept in the cold single room and the small man healed Cyneburg. The priest Sifander heard creepy noises in the night, and we suspected the shack to be haunted. I did succumb to the urge to see if I could take one of Armillia's arrows that night, but she shifted in her sleep and I managed to scare myself back to bed. That morning, I was all out of spells, so I had to go out into the forest to find it.

Sifander is an old man so we told him to stay at the hunter's shack to try to cleanse the place of spirits; there was also the side benefit of him not needing to hike in the snow for 6 hours and maybe die of cold. We returned to the ford where we first met, but something very strange was there. It was a figure built out of woven stems and grass, from which a terrible stench emanated. Kyneburg chopped off its head, discovering that a corpse had been trapped inside it. It was someone Armillia and Tengezil knew, called Old Man Dansby – a native of their village, who always worried about the fey of the forest. His fear was well-founded, it seemed. We burned his body in its wicker casing and hopefully cleansed his spirit for the Morninglord or whoever it is that'll take him.

After a hard day of hiking through the snow, we reached the High Sentinels' Lodge. Sterris stumbled over a tripwire, though, and suddenly we were mobbed by more bandits with weapons. Some of them seemed very sick. We quickly killed them, too, and entered the lodge to look for Argentea Melassene, the noble that had gone missing. We didn't find her immediately, but Kyneburg found a caliban woman in the kitchen who called herself Ten-Penny Tacey and spoke the same tongue. Tacey said she'd been kept there against her will, and she didn't like being around people so Kyneburg helped her escape – into the woods, I guess. It was when we were heading up the stairs to the second floor when we heard a thudding outside – and saw two zombies reel out of the room at the top of the stairs. Each zombie was wearing little onyx charms around their neck, which we worked out were used for reanimating them. We tried to cut down the ones inside and shut the door, but they kept coming, and we bolted out the back. Where it turned out there were plenty more undead. I tried to use some frost magic on some clanking horror, but it was just my luck that it was immune to cold. Tengezil's feathery companion was getting beat up by a group of zombies while I shouted encouragement to him and Kyneburg, but then they both either went inside or went around the side of the lodge. When I didn't hear anyone else fighting outside except Sterris, I attempted to run back indoors as well. But my good friend Armillia shut the door in my face.

Now, it turns out Armillia felt really bad about it later, but that didn't matter in the moment. What mattered was that she, a skilled fighter, shut the door on me, a very unskilled one, as well as a little less than half a dozen freezybone skeletons and zombies. And Sterris, who from the commentary of the others I gather had been running around in what looked like a prison smock the whole time since I met him and Sifander – he was certainly faring poorly. Sterris ran off north while I ran off east.

Unfortunately, I ran into the zombies. They encircled me, and I felt a brush of air as one swipe missed and then this impossible pain when they stuck me in the stomach.

–

I woke up with it standing on my chest. I saw myself through its eyes for a moment before I shoved it off. I was lying on the ground, my robes soaked with blood, my glasses askew. Outwardly, I was mostly the same. What changed was inward – I felt a new hunger, kinda like regular hunger where you think ”Morninglord, I really wish I had a pie just about now” but it was now like ”I want to inflict pain and horror on my enemies.” Fortunately that was directed at whoever made all those undead attack in concert, not Armillia.

Carving it into stone feels super wrong in terms of acknowledging what I saw but hey, if you're reading this that probably means you're caught up in my curse, right? In third person, I saw ribbons of blackness wrapping around me, felt them sapping all the heat from my bones, heard the sound they made like knives cutting through grass. The pain in my gut spread to my heart and my neck. I couldn't move a muscle.

The zombies had moved on to other targets – I later learned that they'd seriously injured Kyneburg, and that there was a well-dressed a@!!%@*-looking man in proper cold weather furs who was the one animating folks. I limped back to the front of the lodge and gave encouragement to the warriors, though the way my luck works I don't get to do it on the same people more than one time in a day. We killed the last zombies and that scared off the animator, and then we dumped all the bodies into the well so he couldn't come back and use them. The rest of the folks started going on about oh, how cute was ”Romo's cat” - did it have a name? I tried to warn them but they would not listen.

I went to ask Armillia why she uh, tried to kill me (and maybe succeeded?), but she locked herself in the kitchen and wouldn't come out. Started piling stuff up to barricade herself in. I think I heard her crying. I decided to leave her be.

We finally found Argentea tied up in the cellar, and also checked out the rest of the rooms in the lodge. There was a sick room and a bunch of other bedrooms downstairs, while the upper story just had two rooms. Argentea was whiny, like a typical noble I guess, but she got along alright with Kyneburg and me. I think Tengezil was weird-looking to her. We moved as many beds as we needed upstairs, and eventually Armillia came out. She might've apologised; I don't remember.

The first upstairs room, the one we decided to camp out in, had one advantage in addition to the elevation. It had good glass windows oriented in a way that the others could watch the whole yard to the south of the lodge. It also had more of those onyx charms hanging in those windows. Armillia and I debated selling them, but we decided it would be best to give them to Sifander and see if he could destroy them.

The second upstairs room was like a little closet and had a cache of goods inside. No food, but a blanket or two, as well as a cage holding some sort of little sprite. We released it, but I don't think any of us felt particularly good about doing so – what if it reported to the animator?

Then we ate some porridge made from leftover flour in the kitchen, and some food we'd all brought along, and settled in for the night. The number of groans and complaints I heard from Argentea over the cramped conditions was higher than I could track.

The next morning we went back to the hunter's shack, spent another night there. Argentea was even more displeased with those conditions. A strange flying creature with both feathers and fur slithered in through some crack during the night – it was a witch's spy, undoubtedly, and we killed it.

I tested my stealth again, rifling through Kyneburg's pack (she was a much heavier sleeper), but the small man caught me and sounded the alarm. Then Kyneburg threatened to chop off my hand if I did it again . . . lord. I tried to explain I wasn't taking anything important, nothing she'd miss, that I couldn't control it, but none of them were willing to listen. Gotta control myself. I'm not proud of this.

We made it to the hamlet of Heldren without meeting any more bandits or monsters. (I think we mighta killed the last of the bandits when we raided the lodge. It's too bad we didn't keep any to ask about why they killed the rangers and raided Argentea's caravan. But it's also fine because we found a map in the lodge showing that they were planning to attack Heldren.) We got Sifander home and Armillia went to her mom's house and got Argentea a room to stay there. Apparently the noble actually didn't have much money. We did get some money by selling the bandits' equipment to the general store owner, Vivialla Steranus, and I went and bought us bottled flame from the uber-nervous apothecary Tessarenea Willowbark. Armillia and I took the onyx charms to the spiritual leader of the place, Old Mother Theodora, who said she'd get them destroyed. Tengezil had a house in the village, while Kyneburg, Sterris, and I got spaces on the floor of the Silver Stoat Tavern.

By the next morning, we had left the smoky village and were journeying back towards the High Sentinels' Lodge. Armillia still wanted to look for the old hunter who'd gone missing in the woods, and I and the others wanted to track down the man who'd sent the zombies after us. We made it back to the hunter's cabin and then all the way up to the lodge, though we encountered the frost-burned bodies of several wolves and deer along the way. Kinda worrying, those.

We slept in the high room at the Lodge's top that night. The next morning, we checked out the stable adjoining the Lodge and discovered that it had four hungry horses. The fourth one I identified as a nixie, a kind of fey spirit known for inviting riders onto its back and then flipping them off into rivers. As we were quite close to a river at the time, we decided not to mount it, and took the other horses out. We didn't want someone else to get fooled by the fey horse, so we tried burning down the stable with it inside – but it broke free of its shackles and charged us. The real horses bolted, but Tengezil (who claimed that the horse was actually a ”blood mare,” some sort of demon cannibal – probably false) got his bird in and Kyneburg and Sterris surrounded the fey and slowly chipped away at it, with myself providing support. It was much stronger than I'd expected, but we managed to kill it without losing anyone. Then we gathered up the horses, got them some fresh food and water, and put them back in the stable. We went to the river's edge. The bridge there was apparently slippery-looking (though I could walk on it just fine), so we sent Kyneburg across first to check it out, with a rope around her waist.

It turned out the greatest danger of the bridge wasn't the ice, but a flying fey creature that haunted the crossing and tried to attack us. I tried to reason with it, learning that it was called Isoze and was some sort of mephit, but it seemed to serve someone else. Kyneburg fell off the bridge after a powerful gust of wind, and since I was holding the rope, I started getting dragged down after her. Thinking fast, I jumped off the cliff – but so that our rope wrapped around one of the bridge's posts, helping me use my full weight to counterbalance Kyneburg's. It still wasn't enough, but Sterris helped pull the two of us up and then made his sling sing with the Morninglord's power, throwing magical rocks at the fey. That was kind of the only thing that hurt it – we needed something either magical or blessed. It got Armillia with a burst of some sort of visual illusion. I kept everyone mostly conscious and we eventually seemed to either bore or tire out the fey, which fled upriver away from us. Armillia got back up and we picked our way across the bridge. We'd pick the horses up on our way back.

At the crest of another hill, we found a patch of cleared earth with three tree-like monsters growing in the center. They were frostfirs from the Breathing Forest of north Irrisen, which would be knocked unconscious by the blood of a divine caster. Irrisen is a country I am not very familiar with. I recommended that Tengezil throw some of his blood at them, but he told me to use mine, instead, and so no one threw any blood in the end. Kyneburg chopped the monsters up and we uprooted them to find the body of a human man who was even more poorly dressed than Sterris – it seemed he'd been stripped.

Later on, we found a large metal trap partially ripped out of the ground. Armillia identified it as a weasel trap, but sadly it appeared the thing had gotten free. We followed the trail of its blood westward.

Towards evening (it was colder, which is how I can tell), we reached a strange little hut perching on top of some trees on top of a knoll. The trail of blood ran past the hut, but we decided to investigate when a young girl ran past us into some boulders below the knoll. She looked frozen, according to the others. When we tried to follow her, she called, ”I'm sorry, don't hurt me – I never meant to call you names!” And then she said, ”I don't want your stupid doll!” I noticed that she didn't seem to be making the snow crunch with her movements, and right at that moment the others said she disappeared. When Kyneburg climbed up to the hut and found a strange doll sitting at the top looking down at us, I realized that this was a soulbound doll, a horrible invention that used the spirit of some person to power a magical construct. But it had fragmented in some way, so that the construct in the doll was separate from the spirit of the little girl that kept trying to escape and hide. We destroyed the doll, Tengezil making Kyneburg large with a spell and Armillia and Sterris and I using bottled flame to set the hut on fire. Then the rest of the party went down to where the girl had been moving, and saw no sign of her except for some shadowy faces beneath a patch of ice; the faces melted as they watched. The girl's name was Thora, and that was her and her family they glimpsed under the ice, we somehow knew. We followed the blood trail past the burning hut.

We hiked all the rest of the day. That evening, shortly before camping, more frost skeletons attacked, and I apparently set a tree on fire with my last bottled flame in my haste to destroy them. We cut down boughs of fir and pine and built a little shelter next to the burning tree, but my companions all complained terribly about the cold. Made me feel a little lucky to have my curse of cold resistance.

The next day we kept hiking. It was probably around noon when we happened upon a shredded frozen corpse. Armillia identified it as that of her mentor, the hunter and alcoholic Dryden Kepps. When she touched his quiver, some of the arrows whispered something to her – a remnant of the hunter's ghost, I think. Kepps was infatuated with the idea of fighting a gigantic weasel he claimed haunted these woods, but no one apart from Armillia had believed him while he was alive. Judging by the wounds on his body, he had been at least half-right: there was something huge and clawed roaming the forest. And judging by what those arrows did later, he'd either prepared well or his spirit had enhanced their power, because they tore into that weasel like a hot poker into a block of lard.

We took Dryden's most useful possessions – Sterris took his winter furs, so he was finally dressed appropriately for the weather. Kyneburg took the dead man's snowshoes and bow, and then we built a cairn over Kepp's body and let Armillia have a moment. Kepps had been carrying a flask of something that smelled like whiskey, and Armillia poured that out over his body. Kyneburg made an odd symbol by tying two pieces of stick together in a cross shape and sticking that into the ground at the head of the cairn. I'd been working on learning her language, and I think she said that the cross represented sanctifying the body.

When we continued westward, we discovered the frozen Soulmere Lake. And far out on the ice, Armillia spotted something horse-sized, furry, and snakelike: the dire weasel Kepps had spoken of. Kyneburg charged across the ice towards it, but before she ever reached it, it fell, the two spiritual arrows sprouting from its eyes. Armillia lowered her bow.

In its death throes, the weasel broke the ice, but Kyneburg pulled it out of the water and back to shore. Armillia severed the weasel's head to later have mounted in the Silver Stoat.

We constructed more shelters near the lake that night. I slept soundly until Armillia heard something rustling in the underbrush and yelled out to us. She started talking with something whose voice was guttural and groaning. I was dragged out of bed and went to help her talk.

As it turned out, the creature was some sort of abominable snowman, like that which the legendary Bardo the Greatfoot Hunter had searched for. It was speaking in the language in which I now write. With Armillia translating, we understood that it did not like us resting in its territory, so we offered it the corpse of a deer as payment. The creature was somewhat mollified and agreed to let us spend that one night there – but that would be our last such opportunity. The next time, it wanted our own blood.

I had to sleep a bit longer before I could muster up the strength to go and commune with the monster. Armillia went down to the lake to check on the weasel corpse (perhaps the snowman had taken it as food?), only to find the bloody place where she'd severed the head empty. A trail of weasel tracks led away over the snow. We still don't know if that a#*$##$ in the furs reanimated the weasel, but that's my theory. Gotta kill that guy.

Despite our late start, we made good progress along the path deeper into the cold. Along the way, I got Armillia to teach me some of what she knew about the Aklo language. We were drilling on grammar when, suddenly, the wind picked up, and a horrific combination of wolf and deer was revealed from a flurry of snow in our path. I heard the angry malefic winds condensing behind us, and realized it was some sort of elemental mist being. The wolf-deer named itself Hommelstalb, and we discovered that it was a tiny monster ”riding” the corpse of its victims, something we called a puppeteer. Or puppedeer, you might say. I think Kyneburg was the one to notice the monster and kill it, and then the rest of us defeated the wind creature, which was named Squalb.

That same day, we arrived at the base of a tall cliff and what seemed to be the nexus of the winter that was blanketing this area of rural Barovia. I could feel the wind streaming out, the icy mist collecting on my stubble, the intermittent sting of hardened snow hitting my nose. The others described it as a ring of inverted icicles (some 30 feet high), at the center of which was a globe of whirling whiteness. As we came out of the forest, they saw a group of igloos gathered around the nexus, as well as a cave up to the north. We met another small man (like Tengezil) named Foefane, who was somewhat creepier than Tengezil if I'm being honest. He talked about bringing Tengezil over to his side and about ice in his heart, and seemed to already have ice for hair. When Tengezil refused he threw a thunderstone at us and summoned a bunch of sprites, and we had bitter combat. I think Kyneburg had killed Foefane by the time we heard something else, larger than him, moving in one of the trees. It was singing in a high-pitched voice, in a language none of us recognized. We went around the igloo there and tried to find the new threat, but could not accurately track it. It attacked at the worst moment, surprising me and Sterris all alone (kind of a trend) with Armillia still fighting one of the sprites further off.

Sterris and I attacked the new threat, which he described as sort of a big ugly man, a troll with a long boar spear. Trolls dwell under bridges, and cold iron hurts them. Kyneburg trudged through the snow and caught up with us, but even she and Armillia (who both had snowshoes, after finding Kepps) could not move as fast as Sterris when Sterris was calling on the Morninglord's power. I helped the injured Kyneburg hack the troll up, but the monster retreated, saying that he, Teb Nautumn, would not die the same way as Foefane. He climbed over one of the smaller igloos and then leaped off with its spear, horrifically stabbing Tengezil and pinning him to the ground, unconscious. Sterris and I hurried to heal our companion while Kyneburg slowly wore Teb down. Finally, she sliced off his arm, and he died.

Or so we thought.

We patched up Kyneburg and Tengezil as best we could while Sterris searched the troll's body for useful items. He noticed at the last second that Teb's arm had reformed, and dodged out of the way when the monster grabbed his spear back up and started fighting us again, somehow almost fully healed. It was a long, arduous battle, but now that the troll couldn't bound off into the snow or climb away onto an igloo, Tengezil's slow-moving pet bird was able to stay in the fight, and it helped a lot. We finally killed the troll, and then Sterris chopped it up and started feeding the pieces into a fire Armillia built. We learned: Never turn your backs on the bodies.

Teb had been carrying some flasks of different fluids, a scroll, more thunderstones, a sickle, and a sling, in addition to his magical spear which resized to his height when Tengezil picked it up. We all agreed that Tengezil should take the spear. We investigated the igloos, finding a winter blanket and some piles of furs, which we took. Tengezil also found a pit trap! After joshing him a little for not looking more carefully, we helped him up.

We were still very wounded and tired, but we decided to check out the wintry orb. Maybe there was a way it could be shut down, to return Heldren and the rest of the region to normal? As we approached, though, a heavily armored man riding a horse suddenly rode out of the sphere – what we now realized was a portal. I backed away quickly from the threat, and the others neglected to tell me when the man collapsed onto the ground in front of them. Apparently, he was bleeding, was named Black Midnight, and was ”Baba Yaga's Black Rider, Harbinger of the Witch Queen's Return.” I reapproached partway through his little spiel, once I heard the unstrained voices of my companions and realized the warrior had not simply murdered them all.

Midnight had (apparently) taken the form of a white-haired balding man after removing his helmet, and explained that someone called Queen Elvanna in Irrisen had taken over the country and refused to cede power to her coming mother, the (something like an empress) Baba Yaga. Only Baba Yaga could defeat this Queen, but she was missing. If Yaga could not be found, then this ”demiplane” - ”the World of Mist and Darkness” that we all lived in, could be doomed. He gave us two ”keys,” which we were to put in a cauldron inside something called a Dancing Hut. The keys would be reactivated by the lifesblood Midnight spilled upon them, once he had died. He gave me one of the keys, something I recognized as a plague doctor's mask. The other was a lock of hair, which he gave to Kyneburg.

With his dying few breaths, Midnight set some kind of geas upon us – he called it the Mantle of the Black Rider. Each of us got a dark sigil on our necks (I can feel a raised welt, days later), and we were compelled to find Baba Yaga to stop Queen Elvanna. Personally, I would have been willing to save the world even if he hadn't given the Mantle, but I actually derived some benefit from it. When he cast his spell, I felt my mind expanding, and suddenly I fully understood both Kyneburg's language (Aengles) and the one in which I now write – Aklo, the language of monsters. I also knew where Irrisen was, roughly, and also that Midnight was right about the world being segmented into ”domains.” I even knew a little about the geography of the domains I had visited, something you don't typically pick up if you can't read maps (the fact that I had been in different domains, and not simply different nations, was also revealed to me). Midnight died just after giving us the Mantle. Good timing with that one.

We cleared out the cave to the north of the portal and settled in for a frigid, snowy night. The next morning we debated – should we go straight into the portal, or try to make it back to town and get some more supplies? In the end, the more cautious and more amenities-loving heads prevailed, and we began the long hike back to Heldren. During this journey, I began to carve these tablets.

It seemed that whatever predators there were along our path, we'd met and killed or bargained with, because the way back was free from fights. We did not encounter the snowman, and we made it back to the High Sentinels' Lodge in just a day and a half. We got the horses fresh food (though there's scarce little of it in the snow zone) and then rode on to Kepps' old cabin. The hunter's spirit had clearly passed on, and we heard no more tapping or rattling in the night. Then we finally rode back into the village.

The first thing Armillia did was go to the tavern and show everyone the head of the dire weasel. Folks were shocked, and Armillia was vindicated; she took the head to the tanner's to get it taxidermied. But when Armillia went home to talk to Ma Fex about how Kepps had been right all along, and maybe Armillia'd been right about the disappearance of her brother some 20 years ago, her ma wouldn't listen to a snatch of what she had to say (I was there; I can vouch for the woman's lack of reason). She started telling Armillia that she ought to settle down, marry this nice noble she'd met (Argentea was there too – I suspect at least her ears were blushing), and stop talking about fey and monsters and all that. Armillia cussed out her ma and then we all left, with Armillia offering Argentea the opportunity to come with her to whichever land we were going to enter. Argentea had lost her bodyguard Yuln Oerstag and all the rest of her retinue to the bandits, and she didn't really have anything tying her to Barovia, so she agreed.

Tengezil immediately set to work building a sleigh for the horses to tow. It would take him three days and most of his free time, plus some help from Armillia and Sterris. Several of us stayed at his cramped, messy house.

Kyneburg, who'd befriended Argentea's bodyguard and first learned the trail symbol Tralaks from him, arranged a funeral sans corpse for the man. She and Argentea attended, though I'm told Sifander's eulogy was lacking in details. Kyneburg spent the remainder of her time working at the tanner's, and apparently earned a small wage for her assistance.

Meanwhile, I cased the village – always important to do before you leave a town for a good while. If any of y'all are reading this, sorry, but I needed some cash, and none of y'all were chipping in any money for my sleight of hand acts. I figured out that the town hall only had one guard at night, so that became my target. The night before we'd leave, I snuck up to the front window, stuck my glue paper to the glass, and carefully cut a hole for my hand. When I tapped the glass out, it made a little tinkling sound, but I don't think anyone noticed. I opened the window and slipped inside. This is where having a frame like mine helps a lot. Then I carefully, stealthily crept up the stairs to the central counting desk. There was no money inside! I stealthed into a side room, where I knew the guard slept – and there, sitting out on a table, was a box of metal pieces that felt a hell of a lot like jewelry. I stuffed them into my pockets, listening to the guard snoring, and then stole back outside.

The next day, I visited the town hall again. They say not to return to the scene of the crime, but I've never been one to obey aphorisms. The guy manning the desk was the same as the guard. I asked how it was going, and he explained that he'd been robbed the previous night, but it was otherwise swell. I told him I hadn't heard of the robbery, did they find any clues? He seemed a little suspicious of my question until he realized I was blind, and then he was quite forthcoming. No, no clues except that someone had used a glass cutter, but he didn't even like the stuff he'd been robbed of, and he was glad someone had taken it off his hands, honestly. He asked me why I was in there, and I replied that I was trying to find a bathroom. I was sorry he'd lost that stuff. He said he felt like we had a real connection, and I agreed; we hugged. Then I went out back to use the toilet.

We left on one of the coldest days yet, and drove our new sleigh with our three horses through the woods. Tengezil's bird ran alongside, but the rest of us – Armillia, Kyneburg, Tengezil, Argentea, Sterris, and I – rode in the sleigh.

Unfortunately, along the way we were waylaid by more deer and wolf zombies! A bump in the road and an overly high speed made me fall off the back of the sleigh, and I was nearly lost until Kyneburg jumped down and pulled me back up. Sterris led the horses to the stable behind the shack, but suddenly the zombies had caught up. We hurried into the shack and to our surprise found the caliban Ten-Penny Tacey huddled inside. Sterris was trapped in the stable while the rest of us put furniture against the front door. We were settling in for a long siege when something called a ”mote” tumbled down the woodstove's chimney. It burst out and assaulted us with magic and cold. We shoved it back in and lit the fire, which killed it pretty good but also made the place stink.

We could communicate with Sterris through a knot in the wall between the stable and the shack's single room. Tengezil gave him a few prods with our recently purchased healing wand, and Sterris lit himself a fire in the stable-shed to keep warm. The rest of the group (apart from myself, who had no need) bundled up in blankets and furs and tried to put the scent of burning flesh out of their minds long enough to sleep.

We woke up when a wolf tried to crash through the window. Another zombie deer was doing the same to the door. We killed the wolf and then replaced the boards, but we now had another stinking body in the shack with us.

Tengezil woke us up again when Sterris heard something tearing at the door to the stable. The horses were whinnying nervously. It sounded like something was going to get in and get Sterris while the rest of us were helpless to do anything, and after a few hacks with her axe Kyneburg was uncertain if she could break through the wall between the two ”rooms” without bringing the whole structure down on our heads. And then we would have nowhere at all to hide.

Sterris said he was going to open the doors and try to make a break for it. I told Kyneburg and Armillia to run out and meet him as soon as the door opened, and Kyneburg did – but Armillia hung back. Sterris used the Morninglord's power to smite a zombie panther and a zombie wolf, destroying them, and then ran to meet Kyneburg, who was surrounded by more undead. But Kyneburg was already trying to retreat, and he couldn't make it to her without risking attack. He ran back to the stable and shut the doors. Kyneburg slowly cleared a path back towards the front door, taking scratches and bites and swinging around ferociously.

Just as she reached the entrance, Ten-Penny Tacey turned on us. She jumped off of the floor, apologized to Kyneburg, and started tearing into Tengezil and Argentea with long fingernails. Tengezil fell unconscious just as Kyneburg slammed the door shut on more zombies outside. I tried to get Argentea to help, but she had already been paralyzed by Tacey's first attack. Tacey said if only we hadn't tried to go outside, she could have waited out her commands from the man in furs, which were to attack if we went outside, obviously. She had been bitten seven hours ago, and as an undead was in thrall to the a+&!&!% in furs. Kyneburg apologized in turn, and together with Armillia (I and Tengezil's bird were by that point paralyzed by Tacey's claws) cut the woman down.

Now we had three dead bodies stinking up the room.

Fortunately, we were not attacked again that night. I slept well after the morning dawned cold and clear and silent, and went out to take spells from the monster. I've found that it carries more of them, now – perhaps influenced by the Mantle, or perhaps by the being that grants our shared powers. At least now the rest of my group, save Kyneburg, recognizes that the creature is dangerous.

We piled all the bodies inside and burned the shack to the ground. Hopefully the Morninglord, or Kyneburg's god, will take Tacey to the afterlife.

Then we hitched up the horses and drove them onwards. In the windows at the top of the Sentinel's Lodge we spotted another spying creature with feathers and fur, and quickly drove past before it could see us. We drove over the bridge, making it to Soulmere Lake very quickly.

That night, the snowman returned. This time, it approached closer to the camp – and got caught in a bear trap Armillia had laid out and lashed to a tree. It started trying to rip up the tree, bellowing obscenities in Aklo. I got up and made Kyneburg and Armillia lucky. Sterris invoked the Morninglord's power and tried to slay the beast, but he could not approach without getting harmed. Tengezil made Kyneburg big, and she joined the fight with her massive greatsword – but then the snowman's gaze caught her, made her stand stock still. Its eyes apparently bewitched those of weak will, which might have affected me but for my lack of sight. I made it unlucky, which made Kyneburg last a lot longer against its repeated slashes. Though the snowman was unnatural, resistant to our more mundane weaponry, we eventually killed it. Kyneburg slumped to the ground, and Tengezil healed her.

The next morning we slept in yet again (how do monsters always seem so bent on disrupting a regular sleep cycle?). The horses carried us past the place where we killed Hommelstalb and Squalb, and we arrived at the portal late in the day. I am currently begging Armillia and Tengezil to get the horses galloping and have us go through the portal flying, rather than just leisurely trotting through. We will see if they allow it. But for now, I will leave these tablets in the cave north of the portal. If you find them, it may be that we failed to fend off the winter, and the land is now coated in ice. In this case, it may behoove you to follow us into the portal – I will try to leave more caches of tablets in other caves, should caves be present in this new land. Or it may be that we succeeded, and this rural part of Barovia is enjoying its misty rainy winters and warm summers once again. Either way, I hope you have enjoyed the read, and that you remember our names, because we will likely not be returning.

With ”warm” regards,
Romo Slender
Adopted son of Pharila of the Vistani
Winter Witch

So, magic fang can make one natural weapon magic, and an inquisitor can make their attacks magic for the purposes of overcoming DR, but what other ways are there of getting natural attacks magic?

Hitting a financial rough patch lately and trying to get some cash for the books I use least. I've put a Bestiary 2 up for sale on ebay. If anyone on the boards is in the market for that book, let me know and I'll get in touch if no one buys on ebay.

I am also going to put Bestiary 3 up in a bit.

Players please don't read!

I'm wondering about incorporeal creatures like the shadow demon that are described as having wings. Do they fly supernaturally or extraordinarily?

And as a follow-up question, does magic jar deny the caster access to their own supernatural abilities while in effect?

Say a 6th-level fighter has 5 Con, rolls 1, 10, 6, 8, 1. They take Toughness at 3rd level and use all their favored class bonuses on hp.

Which is the correct calculation?

1. Add all the rolls together with starting hp (37) and subtract Con (-18), add Toughness (+6), add favored class (+6). Total=31

2. Add all bonuses to each HD, dividing retroactive Toughness for 1st-2nd level, then make sure each is 1 or higher: 1st=10-3+1+1=9, 2nd=1-3+1+1=1, 3rd=10-3+1+1=9, 4th=6-3+1+1=5, 5th=8-3+1+1=7, 6th=1-3+1+1=1. Total=32

3. Subtract Con modifier from each roll, then make sure minimum is 1. Only then add favored class and Toughness: 1st=10-3=7, 2nd=1-3=1, 3rd=10-3=7, 4th=6-3=3, 5th=8-3=5, 6th=1-3=1 (total of 24); +12 for favored class & Toughness. Total=36

4. Subtract Con modifier from each roll, add favored class bonus to each roll, then make sure minimum is 1. Only then add Toughness. 1st=10-3+1=8, 2nd=1-3+1=1, 3rd=10-3+1=8, 4th=6-3+1=4, 5th=8-3+1=6, 6th=1-3+1=1. +6 for Toughness. Total=34

5. Subtract Con modifier from and add FCB to each roll. Since Toughness gives a flat +3 bonus at 3rd level, add +3 to the 3rd-level hp, then add 1 to 4th-6th level hp. After total for each roll is determined, make sure all minimums are 1. 1st=10-3+1=8, 2nd=1-3+1=1, 3rd=10-3+1+3=11, 4th=6-3+1+1=5, 5th=8-3+1+1=7, 6th=1-3+1+1=1. Total=33

Followup: If the fighter had rolled a 1 for 4th level and took Toughness at 5th instead of 3rd, would they gain the additional hit point "for every Hit Die [they] possess beyond 3," or would that be sucked up by the Con penalty?

My party reached their greatest moral quandary so far last night: the Mzali rangers. I'd intended for them to stalk the party for a while, do some sniping, but when the party made their Perception checks I ruled that the rangers were in fact open to parley. They just wanted these folks to turn around and go back to Sargava. They eventually were convinced to let the party pass, but things went wrong when the party failed a Bluff check to convince the rangers that they were the only people who'd come through on that route (since the Pathfinders were two days behind them, that was a lie). And, well, the Mzali rangers knew that if there was a bigger force coming, they needed to get back to the city and warn the Mzali forces, so they split up and started running. Now the party is faced with the s%%%ty decision of "Do we, as interlopers into the land of this people, shoot them in the back to further our goals, or do we suffer the potential tragedy associated with a Mzali force attacking the Pathfinder Society expedition?"

There are ways around this situation after the fact, and we'll be exploring those next session. But the initial, as-written situation of mindlessly killing these (potentially indigenous, and certainly not colonial) people who are defending their sovereignty is b~+@~!%* from the get-go. It's true that they're murderers, evil, but that's because they were written that way, and just killing them because they're evil doesn't make the imperialist implications any less apparent. Mwangi land was taken by Sargava, is ruled by Chelish Sargavans, and Mwangi people were taken by Sargava, made into slaves, etc. Decent characters - good characters - shouldn't have to accept the idea of necessary imperialism for an entirely voluntary and (to this date) apparently amoral adventure. Even going around the Mzali-claimed land will still eventually require intruding on other Mwangi lands!

As I discuss this conundrum with my players, I realize it's a much less "good" AP than I'd previously thought on the basis of TTFB and SotSG. SfSS seems ambiguous - you get stuck on an island and are forced to work together with your fellow castaways to survive - and I'd say that it's kind of the choice of the players whether they want to play evil or good characters in that book. Maybe a little tilted away from good, since you're encouraged to be explorers coming to plunder the Mwangi Expanse for its wealth.

RtR, however, immediately amps up with characters putting down a native rebellion and harassing a creature that's religiously important to a tribe of Ijo. And the motivations for going on the expedition don't give many options. Evil and neutral characters have plenty of reason to go - they'll get loot, knowledge and prestige. Good characters are interested in the expedition because of . . . the same kind of goals? Where other APs have looming threats and the like that drive PCs to make long-distance treks, this AP has only the slightest of hints that something bad will happen in Saventh-Yhi. If they actually had some pressing threat they were going to stop, the characters could use that to justify the violent intrusion - they'd feel crappy, maybe, and get a taste of moral greyness, but they could feel they made a decent choice. But here, the Good characters say, "We need to get through your land and bring another 100+ people through as well, so we can make more money/get more power/find more knowledge. If you don't want to let us through, our options are killing you or giving our GM a lot more work."

CoSS is a little better - you finally get to the city, and technically it's ancestral Azlanti land, so it's not like you're looting the artifacts of a Mwangi civilization. But for Good characters? Your motivations are still the same. You're here for wealth, power, and knowledge, and any sidequests where you actually help people are incidental. Sidequests where you actually hurt people (vegepygmies come to mind) are certainly also present.

VoM is better, from my understanding (haven't read it yet). At least here you're a) fighting more objectively evil creatures (undead) and b) now know from Juliver that there are people down there who need saving. But the evil and neutral characters still thrive, because their basic motivators are still there.

TTFB and SotSG are basically the same as VoM. There are good motivations for Good characters - and still a plethora of motivations (money/prestige/knowledge, but now also the motivations of "the city I co-rule upstairs is in danger from this Ydersius guy" and "the Coils of Ydersius tried to kill me - time for revenge") for evil and neutral characters. These and SfSS were the first adventures I read, and they gave me an inaccurate impression of the AP as a whole.

More than most APs I know of, this one has a core theme that's going to eventually force Good PCs to make significant choices in opposition to their alignment. Not greater good choices, not even lesser of two evils choices, but choices that only make sense for those characters in a meta context. I'd honestly recommend this as a legitimately evil campaign, if you could somehow do it without exacerbating the racist elements.

I recently had the realization that the AP I'm currently running, Serpent's Skull, seems to only have old (3.5-era) references to 3rd-party products. I'm interested to know, do more recent adventure paths have the same sort of time gap (4-8 years) between the product being published and that monster or other mechanic being used? Are there any pre-existing lists of such references in adventure paths?

Otherwise, to start one:

Everyone loves more archetypes, and in our current era they're becoming ever more versatile. You might want an archetype for building vehicles, or for taking care of an elderly relative. Some even use archetypes to disable bombs! The fact is, archetypes are as diverse as our collective imaginations. Let's put together some really excellent archetypes and make that 1,001 mark!

The format:
[number]. [Class] ([archetype name])
[List of class features lost and gained]

I'll start us off.

1. Rogue (master striker)
Loses all rogue talents, but now has 1d6 sneak attack damage per level.

2. Fighter (feat master)
Loses bravery and all class skills. Instead of one bonus feat every other level, gains 1 bonus feat per level.

3. Wizard (conjuration master)
Loses arcane bond. Must take the Conjuration school. Gains standard action summoning.

4. Commoner (sneaky peasant)
Replaces 1/2 BAB with 3/4 BAB progression. Gains Good Reflex save progression. Gains d8 HD.
Acquires "sneaky attack" class feature. The sneaky peasant's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the sneaky peasant flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the sneaky peasant score a critical hit with a sneaky attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneaky attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), a sneaky peasant can make a sneaky attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneaky attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.
The sneaky peasant must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A sneaky peasant cannot sneaky attack while striking a creature with concealment.
Gains "see traps good" class feature. A sneaky peasant adds 1/2 her level to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device skill checks (minimum +1). A sneaky peasant can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps.
Gains "avoid" class feature. At 2nd level and higher, a sneaky peasant can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Avoid can be used only if the sneaky peasant is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless sneaky peasant does not gain the benefit of avoid.
sneaky peasant Talents: As a sneaky peasant gains experience, she learns a number of talents that aid her and confound her foes. Starting at 2nd level, a sneaky peasant gains one sneaky peasant talent. She gains an additional sneaky peasant talent for every 2 levels of sneaky peasant attained after 2nd level. A sneaky peasant cannot select an individual talent more than once.
Talents marked with an asterisk add effects to a sneaky peasant's sneaky attack. Only one of these talents can be applied to an individual attack and the decision must be made before the attack roll is made.
Bleeding Attack* (Ex): A sneaky peasant with this ability can cause living opponents to bleed by hitting them with a sneaky attack. This attack causes the target to take 1 additional point of damage each round for each die of the sneaky peasant's sneaky attack (e.g., 4d6 equals 4 points of bleed). Bleeding creatures take that amount of damage every round at the start of each of their turns. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of any effect that heals hit point damage. Bleeding damage from this ability does not stack with itself. Bleeding damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.
Combat Trick: A sneaky peasant that selects this talent gains a bonus combat feat (see Feats).
Fast Stealth (Ex): This ability allows a sneaky peasant to move at full speed using the Stealth skill without penalty.
Finesse sneaky peasant: A sneaky peasant that selects this talent gains Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
Ledge Walker (Ex): This ability allows a sneaky peasant to move along narrow surfaces at full speed using the Acrobatics skill without penalty. In addition, a sneaky peasant with this talent is not flat-footed when using Acrobatics to move along narrow surfaces.
Major Magic (Sp): A sneaky peasant with this talent gains the ability to cast a 1st-level spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list two times a day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability is equal to the sneaky peasant's level. The save DC for this spell is 11 + the sneaky peasant's Intelligence modifier. The sneaky peasant must have an Intelligence of at least 11 to select this talent. A sneaky peasant must have the minor magic sneaky peasant talent before choosing this talent.
Minor Magic (Sp): A sneaky peasant with this talent gains the ability to cast a 0-level spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. This spell can be cast three times a day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability is equal to the sneaky peasant's level. The save DC for this spell is 10 + the sneaky peasant's Intelligence modifier. The sneaky peasant must have an Intelligence of at least 10 to select this talent.
Quick Disable (Ex): It takes a sneaky peasant with this ability half the normal amount of time to disable a trap using the Disable Device skill (minimum 1 round).
Resiliency (Ex): Once per day, a sneaky peasant with this ability can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the sneaky peasant's level. Activating this ability is an immediate action that can only be performed when she is brought to below 0 hit points. This ability can be used to prevent her from dying. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. If the sneaky peasant's hit points drop below 0 due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.
sneaky peasant Crawl (Ex): While prone, a sneaky peasant with this ability can move at half speed. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. A sneaky peasant with this talent can take a 5-foot step while crawling.
Slow Reactions* (Ex): Opponents damaged by the sneaky peasant's sneaky attack can't make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.
Stand Up (Ex): A sneaky peasant with this ability can stand up from a prone position as a free action. This still provokes attacks of opportunity for standing up while threatened by a foe.
Surprise Attack (Ex): During the surprise round, opponents are always considered flat-footed to a sneaky peasant with this ability, even if they have already acted.
Trap Spotter (Ex): Whenever a sneaky peasant with this talent comes within 10 feet of a trap, she receives an immediate Perception skill check to notice the trap. This check should be made in secret by the GM.
Weapon Training: A sneaky peasant that selects this talent gains Weapon Focus as a bonus feat.
Gains "see traps better" class feature. At 3rd level, a sneaky peasant gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving her a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise to +2 when the sneaky peasant reaches 6th level, to +3 when she reaches 9th level, to +4 when she reaches 12th level, to +5 at 15th, and to +6 at 18th level.
See traps better bonuses gained from multiple classes stack.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 4th level, a sneaky peasant can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She cannot be caught flat-footed, nor does she lose her Dex bonus to AC if the attacker is invisible. She still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. A sneaky peasant with this ability can still lose her Dexterity bonus to AC if an opponent successfully uses the feint action (see Combat) against her.
If a sneaky peasant already has uncanny dodge from a different class, she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A sneaky peasant of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies another sneaky peasant the ability to sneaky attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more sneaky peasant levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from another class, the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum sneaky peasant level required to flank the character.
Advanced Talents: At 10th level, and every two levels thereafter, a sneaky peasant can choose one of the following advanced talents in place of a sneaky peasant talent.
Crippling Strike* (Ex): A sneaky peasant with this ability can sneaky attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. An opponent damaged by one of her sneaky attacks also takes 2 points of Strength damage.
Defensive Roll (Ex): With this advanced talent, the sneaky peasant can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than she otherwise would. Once per day, when she would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the sneaky peasant can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the sneaky peasant must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can't use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the sneaky peasant's evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.
Dispelling Attack* (Su): Opponents that are dealt sneaky attack damage by a sneaky peasant with this ability are affected by a targeted dispel magic, targeting the lowest-level spell effect active on the target. The caster level for this ability is equal to the sneaky peasant's level. A sneaky peasant must have the major magic sneaky peasant talent before choosing dispelling attack.
Improved Avoid (Ex): This works like avoid, except that while the sneaky peasant still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless sneaky peasant does not gain the benefit of improved avoid.
Opportunist (Ex): Once per round, the sneaky peasant can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as an attack of opportunity for that round. Even a sneaky peasant with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.
Skill Mastery: The sneaky peasant becomes so confident in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions.
Upon gaining this ability, she selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. A sneaky peasant may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for skill mastery to apply to each time.
Slippery Mind (Ex): This ability represents the sneaky peasant's ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel her. If a sneaky peasant with slippery mind is affected by an enchantment spell or effect and fails her saving throw, she can attempt it again 1 round later at the same DC. She gets only this one extra chance to succeed on her saving throw.
Feat: A sneaky peasant may gain any feat that she qualifies for in place of a sneaky peasant talent.
Gains "super sneaky attack" class feature. Upon reaching 20th level, a sneaky peasant becomes incredibly deadly when dealing sneaky attack damage. Each time the sneaky peasant deals sneaky attack damage, she can choose one of the following three effects: the target can be put to sleep for 1d4 hours, paralyzed for 2d6 rounds, or slain. Regardless of the effect chosen, the target receives a Fortitude save to negate the additional effect. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the sneaky peasant's level + the sneaky peasant's Intelligence modifier. Once a creature has been the target of a master strike, regardless of whether or not the save is made, that creature is immune to that sneaky peasant's master strike for 24 hours. Creatures that are immune to sneaky attack damage are also immune to this ability.
Commoner class skills replaced with the following: Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha). Gains 8+Int skill points per level.

I couldn't easily sum up this character in the title, so here's a long form breakdown:
Halfling cleric with the evangelist archetype, who just advanced from 8th to 9th level. His domain is Animal with the Feather subdomain, and his animal companion is a Large roc with Throw Anything who drops rocks and halflings on enemies. (Also, he calls himself a "kender," but those probably don't actually exist in this world. And we used rolled stats, and I got PRETTY lucky.) His sheet is here.

Some background about the situation: Currently we are about 2 sessions away from the end of the campaign, and right now we are pursuing a vampire back to its coffin. We're in a mansion with fairly low ceilings (probably mostly 20 feet high) that's made of wood. We have no reason to think there will be anything but undead for the rest of the campaign, so a few of my character's abilities will be mostly useless. (Most obviously, his spontaneous casting.) I think we will be able to take a 15-minute power prayer session before we go downstairs and have our last battles, so my character's new spell slots (plus some slots I left unprepared) can be filled. This will almost certainly be the last spell preparation we get before the end of the campaign.

Now finally to my question! Since we're ending so dang soon, I want to have this character go out with a bang. One of the choices that's hardest for me to make is, what feat should he get?

Some options I'm considering:
Evolved Companion to give the roc an evolution like Improved Damage or Tentacle (it actually qualifies for very few). Of the two I'd lean towards Improved Damage because vampire DR is a pain, but Tentacle would let her actually take advantage of her new Multiattack bonus feat. Also, it would be VERY unexpected.
Power Attack - if my character prepares beast shape iii as his 5th-level domain spell, he could turn into a dire bat, wolf, or ape (animals encountered thus far) and deal some respectable damage with this feat.
Maybe Quicken Spell? Quickened spiritual weapon could be handy.
Turn Undead: Actually potentially a good trick - the DC isn't lowered despite fewer damage dice, so I could get a couple uses off of this.
Alertness: I'm literally only considering this one because my character has a +22 Perception already and maxing out that skill has become a hobby. A +2 on top of it will probably not make a difference in these two sessions.

Situation with an animal companion (with nonmagical talons) that damaged a vampire and tried to grapple with the same attack. It dealt exactly 10 damage, which is reduced to 0 by DR - does the animal companion still get to grab?

I'm curious how different groups run divine spell preparation. Do you track the specific time of day each divine spellcaster prepares their spells, or do you just assume they have their new spells after resting like arcane casters?

What about the recent casting limit?

As with arcane spells, at the time of preparation any spells cast within the previous 8 hours count against the number of spells that can be prepared.

Do you enforce it for divine spellcasters who adventure during the day and prepare spells during the evening?

Just checking - if something is "immune to fear" from a spell, it can still be demoralized with Intimidate and given the shaken condition, yes?

I was cleaning a bookshelf and found a few map folios still in their plastic, completely unused! And then I felt kind of bad about buying them in the first place, but perhaps I can recoup some of the costs? If anyone's interested, they are:
Rise of the Runelords (no longer in print on Paizo store)
Curse of the Crimson Throne (no longer in print on Paizo store)
Legacy of Fire

I also have a Second Darkness folio, though out of the plastic - would anyone be interested in that?

Scrying and clairaudience/clairvoyance cost nothing except for a focus that you will use again. But false vision costs 250 gp per casting, and nondetection costs 50 gp. I get that it is useful to be able to stop people from spying on you - potentially even giving them false information - but why is it more expensive than the spell used to spy on you in the first place?

Is this a holdover from old editions, or is it actually balanced?

Does anyone know of a 5E condensed character sheet format similar to monster stat blocks, that can work as a Google doc or in a forum with BBCode? My computer can't handle Google spreadsheets and I don't want the hassle of constantly updating a PDF.

Basically I want something like this or this, or like the pregen sheets of PFS, but for 5E.

Not putting this in the rules forum as I doubt there's an actual rule about this very corner case . . .

My players want to know if they can use create water rain to cool down in an environment with very high humidity (so minimal evaporative cooling) and very high temperature. The adventure they're on involves surviving the heat of a dry season savanna for an overland journey lasting nearly a month.

If water can be reliably summoned at a temperature of the caster's choosing, say 0 C, then their plan would work perfectly. If it is summoned at a random temperature between 0 and 100 C, then the party would get the benefits of a cooldown about half the time . . . but the cleric could just keep casting it until they rolled well. I'm currently leaning towards making it summoned at the ambient temperature, but this could lead to some unfortunate corner cases in very hot situations like forest fires (where ambient temperatures could be above boiling, and hence you'd just be summoning steam).

While I'm all for clever applications of spells, the first two interpretations seem to just completely circumvent this significant terrain hazard with a single cantrip - is that balanced?

P.S. I don't think I can hit them with the Hustle rules (taking more than a single move action per round during overland movement eventually adds up to nonlethal damage), because it's not like they'd need to cast create water every round as they move.

The Proxima Centauri exoplanet looks to be tidally locked. Its orbit is a lot smaller, though.

Say you are an alchemist with fast bombs and a +8 BAB. You want to conserve them, so you don't want to waste them on iterative attacks that might miss. If you're hasted, can you choose to take the full attack action and make your normal attack and your haste attack, but not your iterative?

What about if you've only got two shots left in a pistol but have a +11 BAB? It's fine to only take your +11 and +6 shots, right?

Might be something I'm missing, but I checked the Magic chapter in my Rulebook and the Spell-Like Abilities text in Universal Monster Rules, and I can't work out if constant SLAs can be cast on other creatures.

Context: I'm building a winter witch who gets endure elements (cold only) as a constant SLA from his Cold Flesh ability*. I know I can renew this SLA as a swift action (presumably on myself), and that it should last 24 hours - but can I cast it on other people in my party? Would it still be a swift action to cast it on them?

*Now that I look at it, cold flesh is extraordinary yet somehow grants a spell-like ability???