Lanassa's page

Are you saying that the party ran into Aldern but didn't manage to kill him? Because if they did, then Iesha is destroyed and her spirit can rest. In the above quote:

Reason to Hate (Su) A revenant's existence is fueled by its hatred for its murderer. As long as the murderer exists, the revenant exists. If the murderer dies, the revenant is immediately slain.

Why would any cleric get bitten or otherwise be threatened by a zombie that is confined in a 20-ft. deep pit? These zombies are specifically characterized as "relatively harmless in their pits".
Zanthus and Naffer Vosk are clerics of good deities and channel positive energy for a total 3d6 per channel. So, assuming the PCs have cleared the rest of the Catacombs, I see no reason why they wouldn't find exactly what they hope to when they return from Thistletop: eleven destroyed zombies and a healthy Father Zanthus waiting for them at the Cathedral.

EDIT: +1 for what Lorax said

My players are thinking of cutting the bridge as well, to see if the goblins have another way out of Thistletop. They suggested it last session and our next game is tonight, but I had a lot of time to think about what the goblins and Nualia would do. Fortunately for me, I still have time to suggest (via Shalelu) that this might not be a good idea because it would warn the occupants of their arrival (Gogmurt didn't have time to send the message) and because time is against them.
But if they decide to do it anyway and then wait to see what happenes, the following might happen:

At first Ripnugget will not bother Nualia with it and he'll have his goblins repair the bridge at night. They might succeed, depending on how alert the players will stay -none of them has darkvision or any means to gain it, so the goblins are at an advantage.
Yet if the problem remains, Nualia will soon find out and decide that those pesky adventurers need to be taught a lesson. She has various means of dealing with them and the bridge problem. She can send her three yeth hounds -good fly speed and decent Stealth, again at night. She can send a few goblins along, which will repair the bridge while the hounds deal with the PCs. Oh, and Bruthazmus is a good archer with darkvision as well.
Lyrie has spider climb in her Spellbook. I decided to also give her levitate, which can be used on objects. A small boat maybe? Now the occupants have a fairly safe means of leaving Thistletop if they need to. The yeth hounds are also strong enough to carry a person with equipment.
Nualia, Bruthazmus and Lyrie can leave Thistletoip flying and either attack the PCs or go to Sandpoint to wreak havoc while the heroes are away (ok, the latter I would only do if it takes too much time to restore the bridge or if the PCs continually cut it down and then just stand and watch the poor goblins get frustrated about it... this would serve them well!).
As for flying goblins, you might want to check an interesting alchemist archetype in Monster Codex: Winged Marauder (scroll down a little).
And then there also is the possibility that Nualia will have the time and find the way to free Malfeshnekor... see suggestions above.
Hope this all helps ;-)

Let me start by saying that I'm a novice GM and RotR AE is my first campaign. I've yet to master creating ad hoc balanced encounters.

Hey, we all learn in the process! The point is, as you say, to have fun.

Now to your problems. It seems to me that your biggest concern should be that the players skipped a large and important part of the story. Not to mention that the PCs didn't enjoy the 'Sandpoint Heroes' status they're supposed to! The Glassworks incident needs to hapen for a number of reasons, just to mention a few: it organically ties the PCs to Sanpoint, its history and certain inhabitants; it can be an opportunity to reveal part of Nualia's background and motives; it introduces aspects of ancient Thassilon; it foreshadows later events.
Since Tsuto died, you can assume that Nualia had another employee whom she had already sent to Sandpoint to clean the Glassworks and secure Erylium's aid. They don't have a means of communication, so they probably won't learn of the attack on Thistletop and proceed with the plan anyway. If the PCs meet with very strong opposition in Thistletop, they could return to town for more provisions and maybe reinforcements -then distract them with the Glassworks.

Still, there are various more options. People have already suggested some possible ways to handle the situation. If you are worried about a TPK and don't want it to happen, you can always nerf foes at the last moment or fugde some rolls.
If you want to play along and let the players finish with everything in Thistletop, I'd say that it would make more sense for Nualia to wait for them in the temple with Lyrie, the hounds and as many goblins as you see fit, than in the lowest dungeon level with minimum escape chances. Maybe she could place some allies at the side entrances to surround them in the temple -though I would always leave an 'escape route' in case it goes too bad for the PCs. Remember that yeth hounds fly and goblins have excellent stealth. This already sounds like a TPK for a 2nd level party but you can always hint at them that running IS an option.

If return to Sandpoint, have them investigate Glassworks and the Catacombs. If they finish Thistletop first, have the Glassworks incident happen anyway, maybe with goblin commandos instead of simple warriors and a few more sinspawn down at the Catacombs -to make things more challenging for 3rd level PCs. You can always replace treasure and/or foes from one dungeon to the other, so don't worry if for example you think that the shadows will be too overwhelming, since they didn't have the chance to find an extra magic weapon (on Koruvus).

Concerning similar future mistakes: remember that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' choices for the PCs, story-wise. My party also wanted to track the attackers after the initial goblin assault. I had the tracks lead to a beach and then stop -Tsuto took a boat from there precicely to avoid being tracked by land. If you cannot change things on the fly, you can always do it afterwards to fit everything together.

Oh, and one more thing: I hope Aldern didn't die outside Thistletop, or you'll have to rewrite most of book 2!

This is awesome! Seems like you have lots of fun playing the AP.
Thanks for sharing.

Hey, that's a pretty good item!
You just gave me the idea of equipping

with such a mask. She is a worshiper of Lamashtu and she already has those very convenient yeth hounds for a while, right?
*rubs hands*

*edited to add spoiler tags

As someone else already mentioned, I also used Sheila Heidmarch, Pathfinder venture-captain from Magnimar, as an extra NPC visiting Sandpoint. Though not as part of the Shattered Star AP but

Hopefully the PCs will grap the opportunity to gain a very helpful contact in the big city!

Also, many thanks to Yossarian, who compiled and posted an amazing guide to Sandpoint with lots of new characters, especially for the Sczarni and the Pixie's Kitten -you rock! It' somewhere in the Community Created Stuff.

I always thought it meant "even if the murderer becomes undead, the revenant is not slain". So, nothing to do with the revenant's hate.
Besides, the wording is not "as long as the murderer is alive" but "as long as the murderer exists"

revenant

Am I missing something?

I just checked the module and realised that you're reading the entry wrong.

In Valero's entry the line "Longswoord +3 (1d8+3 ...)" does not mean that the sword is magig. +3 is his total attack bonus:
BAB +1 (for a 1st level fighter) plus
STR +3 minus
TWF -2 plus
Weapon focus +1
totals: +3 to his attack with the main weapon

The same goes for Merisiel's dagger. She has +3 attack bonus becausse she's using it as a ranged weapon, hence the DEX modifier (+3).
Neither weapon is magic. If they were, the entry should read as follows:

+3 longsword +6 (1d8+6 ...)
+3 dagger +6 (1d4+4 ...)

Edit: ninja'd and in better wording

The relevant text:

CRB, 6th errata, page 106 wrote:

Breaking Stealth: When you start your turn using Stealth, you can leave cover or concealment and remain unobserved as long as you succeed at a Stealth check and end your turn in cover or concealment. Your Stealth immediately ends after you make an attack roll, whether or not the attack is successful (except when sniping as noted below).

You can get the errata document at this page.

I was aware of this change, it's just that at first it seemed to me that you couldn't sneak up on someone if your movement didn't end in cover or concealment.

1) Yes, that's right. Note that some creatures (as elementals) cannot be flanked, others are completely immune to sneak attack (incorporeal creatures mainly).

2) No, once someone leaves cover or breakes concealment, they cannot use stealth. So there's no apporoaching unnoticed, unless the rogue is invisible or has some other feature like 'hide in plain sight', which allows stealth without cover. A hidden rogue can only sneak attack once, while using a ranged weapon.

For spell preparation, see section "Magic" in the PRD:

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, he can repeat the preparation process as often as he likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. He cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because he has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.

Hope this convinces you :-)

Lesser restoration does the trick! Can't say right now if there's any other spell or effect...

Could be, I guess... =)

Or it could be a way to prevent an evil creature from commiting suicide!

What happens if you cast prot from evil on an evil entity?

It works as normal against other evil creatures that would attack it. One does not need to be good too have protection from evil on, or even to cast the spell (at least for wizards).

The answer lies in the description of the Polymorph subschool, in chapter 'Magic':

If a polymorph spell causes you to change size, apply the size modifiers appropriately, changing your armor class, attack bonus, Combat Maneuver Bonus, and Stealth skill modifiers. Your ability scores are not modified by this change unless noted by the spell.

And:

If your new form does not cause your equipment to meld into your form, the equipment resizes to match your new size.

Since weapons are part of your equipment, the rules should apply normally.

Ok, I now see what you mean. I agree about the bonus in Perception.

Maybe a different wording could make things clearer, the phrase 'keep an eye on' would work just fine for me. Well, english is not my fist language so this could explain my confusion :p

Nice work!

Generally, after an admittedly quick read, the rules seem fairly consistent and clear. I loved the part about Abduction, heh...

Just one thing though (for now, at least):

A creature observing you may use a swift action to actively observe you, gaining a +4 bonus to all opposed Perception checks with you until the end of the round.

Why is this neccessary, especially since you clarify that they can see you or at least know your exact location (and that you provoke AoO as normal)? This part is a bit unclear, to me at least.

Gauss and wraithstrike: yes, this seems reasonable enough, thanks!

No, you cannot use Detect Magic and Knowledge Arcana identify the magic trap or spell. You can only identify the school of magic.

In Skill Descriptions it states that you can "Identify a spell effect that is in place" using Knowledge arcana (DC 20+spell level). Doesn't this mean that you can determine exactly which spell is in place? It seems a little vague...

Magic traps have spells in effect. I would say yes, they can be detected with detect magic and their aura can be determined as well. Dipel magic can suppress the effect for the given duration.

This does not make magic traps useless, there are ways to conceal (or alter) the aura of a magic item or a spell in effect. Besides, determining the aura does not neccessarily reveal the item or place as trapped. As a GM you could place a few lingering auras (not connected to any traps) to derail the players. Or the auras from a trapped chest could be so many as to overlap and confuse anyone detecting them ;)

That was more in response to describing torture as 'inflicting pain', which is what most people here assume. Torture is also about causing fear -and undead are clearly immune to that. I was also thinking of spells like pain strike (and a few others) that require a Fort save.

Ok, it's a bit of a stretching of the rules saying that undead don't feel pain, but they are masses of dead flesh (or bone) and one could assume that they have other ways of determining when to heal, just as they obviously have other ways os seeing without eyes -and with darkvision at that! So, I don't think I would feel cheated if a GM ruled that you can't cause pain to undead.

I was under the impression that undead just don't feel any pain. Their bodies are dead, including their nerves. Besides, even RAW, they should be immune to pain effects, since they are immune to effects that require a Fortitude save (an pain effects are such).

So, strictly, torturing undead has no basis and the players shouldn't have gained anything from this :p

What does your defense/buff spell list look like? There are the mass versions of all the ability enhaching spells and there is repulsion and antilife shell.

blade barrier is an all time classic 6th level cleric spell, both for offense and defense.

However, summoning spells are the most versatile, definitely worth investing a high level slot. Especially since you can access all the lower level monsters!

Folks, I'm not trying to be difficult, I really don't understand. So please bear with me...

Bob_Loblaw wrote:

Helpless characters can't do anything.

Paralyzed characters can't do anything physical but can use purely mental actions, like cast a spell with no components (Silent Spell with a Verbal only component).

Unconscious characters are helpless but can sometimes be brought back to consciousness. Sleeping characters are unconscious.

Helpless is more of a general term and the other two are specific reasons why someone would be helpless.

Not sure I follow, how could a paralyzed character use a spell with a verbal only component? Seems that would require the ability to move your mouth to speak. Which doesn't sound like being paralyzed to me... ;-) Given my comment... How is that different from helpless?

If it's a spell enhanced with the Silent Spell metamagic feat (emphasis mine, above), they can do it. The same with a Still and Silent spell.

Just one more reason to love Pathfinder! :D

Have you ever played Baldur's Gate II?

Let me introduce you to... Lilarcor, the Talking Blade

All creatures count their movement rate in 5-ft. increments, no matter their size. Besides, a 5-ft. step is a tactical move, not just taking a step. So in this regard, it does make sense to me.

Right, there's that too. Thanks :)

The descriptive text mentions that, if the target is a creature, a caster level check is required to remove the curse. It also states that remove curse counters and dispels bestow curse.

So, wouldn't that mean that the caster level check is only required when the source of the curse is something other than the spell bestow curse? Since, for example, haste counters and dispells slow automatically, wouldn't it be the same?

It came up during a session and I ruled that, since the source was the specific spell, then remove curse could take effect without a check. Is there an official ruling saying otherwise?

Thanks in advance!

Don't mistake the concept of 'hell' as we use it in everyday life with the outer plane named hell (or abyss). Evil clerics/worshipers don't go to a 'place of eternal punishment' when they die but to their deity's domain (provided they were good at being evil!). This probably won't be a merry place but it has nothing to do with being punished for their sins. Evil clerics in particular might hope for an elevated position within the ranks of the souls of the dead. After all, they will be close to their deity's essense, which is in a sense the point of heaven (whereas the point of hell is for the souls to be as away form a god's mercy as possible).

If you play with non-Pathfinder material, have a look at the Book of Vile Darkness. There are rules of torture and various torture devices that give circumstance bonuses to the Intimidate check for the torturer.

Conjuration is the answer! Spells from this school never allow for SR, plus they're good at capturing/slowing enemies: web, solid fog (no save), black tentacles, acid fog (though many outsiders are resistant to acid), wall of stone, wall of iron, summoned monsters to block escape (or grappling monsters, even better). I'm sure the APG or UM have many more interesting spells (create pit from APG perhaps)... Well, Conjuration probably is the school of magic with the greatest variety and utility of all.

Dimensional anchor to prevent them from teleporting away; it states Spell Resistance yes (object), so creatures shouldn't get a save, though the spell does need a ranged touch attack.

Dispel magic always comes in handy to dispel freedom of movement.

These are just after a very quick search or from the top of my head. Hope I did help!

Why was I under the impression that casting from a wand didn't need an attack roll? Do I misinterprete the following?

Activation: Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast has a longer casting time than 1 action, however, it takes that long to cast the spell from a wand.) To activate a wand, a character must hold it in hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures) and point it in the general direction of the target or area. A wand may be used while grappling or while swallowed whole.

Well, you get really creative when it comes to Insidiously Sadistic Devices, I see :0

That's a tricky one...

1) I don't believe that magic (or a dead meagic area, for that matter) has anything to do with what happens to one's soul when they die, on the Prime Material Plane or any other. But it is probably related to the world you're playing and it's rules about afterlife etc.

2)

Timeless: On planes with this trait, time still passes, but the effects of time are diminished. How the timeless trait affects certain activities or conditions such as hunger, thirst, aging, the effects of poison, and healing varies from plane to plane. The danger of a timeless plane is that once an individual leaves such a plane for one where time flows normally, conditions such as hunger and aging occur retroactively. If a plane is timeless with respect to magic, any spell cast with a noninstantaneous duration is permanent until dispelled.

I guess the above could apply to breathing as well. Eternal suffocating without dying while in the demiplane, and when he escapes... retroactive suffocation? :p

3) and 4) I think that it is impossible to move a portal. But I believe you can destroy or suppress it with antimagic. The problem with an antimagic field would be to make it permanent, since it is not in the list of spells that permanency can be applied to (and therefore it's subject to GM's approval whether it can be done). Alternatively, build a massive, compact building on top of it. Made of iron. Or teleport a mountain :p

Don't know if it actually helps. Your real problem is GM's opinion. On the other hand, it is an interesting plan to gat rid of an annoying opponent and i think your GM should reward your creativity. And even if the necromancer finds a way to escape, this would just mean that the campaign would go on -the game never ends!

I'd say Survival:

You are skilled at surviving in the wild and at navigating in the wilderness

Knw:Geogr. is more about people and noteworthy locations etc.

Ii seems a good build, except for one thing: Dexterity! AC, initiative, ranged touched attack and Reflex save, you need them all. My opinion:

Str 8, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18

Granted, you'll lose some skill points. But it's far more preferable to losing your character :p
The lost hp can be retrieved at level 4, when you'll be able to boost your Constitution.

Of course: a Vampires dominate ability and the spell work the same.

The thing is that you do not have to control the creature all the time - you can give a command:

Quote:

Once you have given a dominated creature a command, it continues to attempt to carry out that command to the exclusion of all other activities except those necessary for day-to-day survival (such as sleeping, eating, and so forth).

The question is: Is the command obeyed even if the dominator is dead?

Still, I'd say that the link is necessary for the commanded creature to carry on with the command. If the dominator dies, the dominated 'wakes up'. At least, that's how I would rule it, were it my option. I guess it's one of the things that are in the GM's hands :p

You can control the actions of any humanoid creature through a telepathic link that you establish with the subject's mind.

...
Once control is established, the range at which it can be exercised is unlimited, as long as you and the subject are on the same plane.

I believe this implies that you cannot control the dominated person if you're dead -i.e. both incapable of mental exercise and being on another plane.

You are SUPPOSED to just hand wave the components. The game is dungeons and dragons, not ledgers and logistics.

And here I thought, the game was Pathfinder :p

On a serious note, keeping track of material components could either be fun or frustrating for the players, depending on how harsh you make it on them. Generally speaking, it is not good GMing if the GM is too strict regarding unimportant matters (and I mean unimportant by RAW). On the other hand, if the players feel that hunting an exotic bird for a feather (windwall) is a fun adventure, then go for it. Though in certain environments (e.g. desert or subterranean settings) this could rob the party's fun -especially the wizard's.

Like umm... Giant Form? In the Core Rulebook?

Well, not exactly:

When you cast this spell you can assume the form of any Large humanoid creature of the giant subtype.

As I read it, the polymorph spells grant the form of a certain creature, along with several listed abilities connected to the type, not the type or subtybe itself.

Generally, the way to change a creature's subtype is for it to gain a new template, in which case the transformation is permanent. So if there would be a spell to do this, it should be pretty high level. Not even shapechange states that the change applies to subtype as well.

Why go with the mundane supernatural, when you could go with something seriously wack?

Have the druid/summoner have a bunny as animal companion. Yes. A level 40 bunny (with all the natural armor, str/dex bonus, etc) that this implies.

he's got huge sharp... he can leap about... look at the bones!

Sorry, could not resist :p

It seems to me that the feat Step Up doesn't have that high a cost, it just demands a feat spent. Granted, the Pursuit mechanics isn't the same but it's still kind-of-like granting a 'free feat' from which mainly melee types can profit. So this should probably come hand in hand with another 'free feat' to compensate for other types in general (casters or ranged fighter types) -as Rory suggested above with Combat Casting.
And this is exactly where Pursuit could become unbalancing. Ways to interrupt spellcasters already exist: ready action; flanking/cornering; feats like Step Up or Disruptive; weapons or other items to entangle them (net, tanglefoot bag); abilities/items that cause continual damage (a rogue's bleeding attack or weapons with the bleed ability)... Adding this mecanics is way too much, imo.
But I guess we won't know for sure 'till we've tried :)

I see, my bad :)

In the game I'm running there is a constant whining about the 5-ft-step a caster can take to cast a spell, while I believe that there are ways to either prevent or circumvent this. Your suggestion could be one method, though imho it could become a bit unbalancing under circumstances... Don't know; maybe we'll try something like this and then I'll post again!

A melee character threatening a spellcaster can ready an action to "attack the spellcaster as soon as he starts casting". This would include a 5-ft-step in response to the caster's 5-ft-step, provided that the melee fighter did not move during his/hers turn, before readying the action. I believe that this tactic does introduce a measure of risk for the spellcaster and that it doesn't violate any rules, right?
As for the Reflex save: it doesn't nessessarily include movement. It's more like how lucky you are at avoiding danger, as well as how quickly you can respond to a treat. So a Reflex save to entirely avoid say a flaming sphere does not mean that you stepped into an adjacing space. It merely means that you are just at the spot where the flaming sphere can't touch you, that you can keep yourself away from it just enough for you not to catch on fire. Or a save to take half damage from a fireball could mean that you managed to bring your arms over your head just in time and so didn't take the damage full in the face. At least that's my interpretation.

Nasty tactic vs. wizard: the cleric casts silence on the melee fighter (or better still: animal companion) ; melee fighter/companion engages spellcaster; somebody forgot to prepare a few silent spells?
As a GM, I think it's a good thing that silence now has 1 round casting time :p
If above tactic is combined with a thunderstone thrown at the wizard before the silence spell, it's even nastier; the wizard will think he's just gone deaf and will count on the 80% spell casting success. My necromancer was deader than his zombies in 2 rounds. Funny thing was that the players had not planned this beforehand, the idea just popped up during the battle -and it was a pretty powerful necromaner they were facing.

If it is a healer examining a possibly pregnant woman, I'd say the DC wouldn't have to be very high, like 20 or 25 in the early months. it should be less at later stages; and as already mentioned, different races would call for different DC.
But if there is no time or opportunity for proper examination, I'd say it should be a Perception check, possibly opposed by Disguise (if the woman in question is trying to hide her condition). It depends on the situation.

Note that Intimidate is not the same as threats. You can make threats without using the skill. Intimidate is making a threat (direct, indirect or even implied) in a way that you get under the other person's skin. You play on their fear, overcome the rational part of their mind, and influence their behaviour.

A paladin is immune to fear, so you cannot Intimidate them. You can still threaten them, and they might even react to your threat the way you like, but it's because they have rationally decided to act that way.

Adjust your threats accordingly.

You can intimidate a, say, fighter, by telling him that unless he retreats right...

This could also work as a Bluff check, I guess. Well, paladins usually have a good Sense Motive bonus but they're not immune to being fooled.

once had a pc, who played a strange class i had never had heard off

so he basicly would bargain with outsiders, and get things like armor or flame or what ever.

we were all in the room, and he caught on fire and started shooting, fire out of his hands, when we asked him where he go that fire he said with a straight face "what fire" the whole game he would crazy strange things like get random platemail, and say "ooh this old thing had it for ever"

it got to the point where we killed him, because we didn't trust him, to the end he refused to explain his class feature out of game or in game.
so when we could of saved him IN GAME we let him die. turns out the class was some crazy class that was hunted by the church for blasphemous so he was playing his character. but if he had just shared, it would all been good were a frickin party.

That probably was a binder, from "Tome of Magic: Pact, Shadow and Truename Magic". Strange class indeed, it gave me the main idea for an entire campaign :-)