Is there a source for that information, or are you just applying common sense?
I'm not aware of it being specifically written down anywhere that their runes look different.
I just went by the fact that Azlanti and Thassilonian were two different languages. Makes sense that their written language and runic systems would look quite different as well.
They are two different languages, but Thassilonian apparently descended from Azlanti.
Thassilonian as a language is a direct descendant of Azlanti, but with a strong Varisian/Shoanti/Giant influence.
You could probably assume, then, that the languages are distinct, but share similarities - like French and Spanish, or maybe more like French and Latin.
So, what does your story require? Do you want them to be the same? Then the development of "sin magic" by the Thassilons required the runes to be the same, otherwise, the power would leech out of them. Thus, the runes, unlike the language proper, stayed true to its original form. Do you want the runes to look different? Then the natural drift of language has made the runes look different.
I don't think there's anything canon that says the runes are the same or different, so it's GM's choice.
Less specifically, I'm looking for hints on how to run Raogru. My party is rather optimized (we had only two of them last session, and the fight against Issilar was challenging, but not life-threatening!) and I'd like this fight to be difficult. His dominate animal and animal trance might take out the ranger's pet, and his ranged weapon might make him actually hit, unlike others, but until his snake's down, he'll have difficulty using his channel.
So, how have others run him? Hints and suggestions?
Just letting you all know that I have created a word document that contains 120 discoveries (bits of info) that can be found in the city. It uses the ten headings of historical discoveries as noted on page 10 of the module.
A lot of it is as I have made up from reading the first three modules (I like to read ahead only one module at a time) so the information in the discoveries are from what I understand and a bit of fiction that I have added (particularly around the legend of Savith herself).
If you want a copy email me at m.knights AT bigpond.com
We will e heading into the City of Seven Spears in the next couple of sessions :)
Question: the book says to give 400 xp (to the party) and, upon a successful craft or profession check, 500 gp for each discovery. I assume you're not planning on giving 48,000 xp for your 120 discoveries, right? I am thinking of giving them 40xp for each discovery (8 xp/person/discovery) and letting them bundle 10 discoveries to sell to their faction (for 500 gp).
My players broke the spirit journey - killing the serpent in one swing and they glossed over the tattoos. However, they've been having prophetic dreams at least once a week that they think might be after-effects of Nkechi's hallucinogen. (I think it is more likely the result of meddling by the gods who don't want to see a resurrected Ydersius, but I'm leaving it open for later adjustment).
This has let me introduce some pretty blatant foreshadowing and also let me introduce the paranoia mechanic ("the dream has shaken your faith in the party - today you are paranoid" etc.). I usually have each dream have a role-playing effect ("you are more likely to charge forward today, and trust your first instinct") and a game mechanic effect (paranoia, or +2 initiative against snakes, etc.).
They're self-sustaining, but the fact that they've degenerated into morlocks from Azlanti suggests that there is a fair amount of interbreeding - you could put the number toward the lower end. 300 would not be unreasonably low (30 might be, however). Google "minimum viable population" for some scholarly work on the issue.
You can see that the field is so speculative that you could find support for any number you want to justify to your group.
How did Akarundo wrest control of the degenerate serpentfolk away from Issilar? They have the same Charisma, and Akarundo isn't telepathic. Degenerate serpentfolk have "a bare, borderline-instinctual understanding that creatures without telepathy are food." (PF37 p. 67)
He can't use charm person on serpentfolk, and his illusion magic isn't any better than Issilar's (given that they can both use major image).
So how did he pull it off? And how is he keeping the degenerate serpentfolk believing that he is a god?
Good question. Here are my thoughts:
1. Akarundo doesn't have telepathy, but he can, perhaps, fake it using detect thoughts.
2. Opium
3. Simple combat. Akarundo doesn't have the spell variety that Issilar has, but can cast lightning bolt 5 times a day and acid arrow and magic missile 7/day, and he has higher SR and has a damage reduction. He'd clearly dominate in a magician's duel.
So, I think you can spin out a tale of intrigue where Akarundo enters the camp and uses his detect thoughts combined with his +20 bluff to pretend to have telepathy ("I speak out loud so that my words as a god are heard even by the food!") and insinuate himself into the good graces of Issilar, plying him with his opium and then casting him out in one-on-one combat.
His illusion magic is, arguably, slightly better than Issilar's since he has change shape as a special quality, so can assume the form of a pure-blood serpentfolk indefinitely and it's not a disguise so cannot be seen through. Issilar's disguise self can be used at will, but only works as a disguise. (Perhaps Akarundo challenges Issilar to a disguise-off, "I am the true shifter of shapes, look upon my forms and see if you can detect any flaw, and compare it to this pretender, Issilar and his mere disguises.") Issilar can cast major image while Akarundo can only cast minor image, but Akarundo can cast it 7 times a day.
Since Akarundo's bluff is so high, the degenerate serpentfolk, with their +0 sense motive would be hard-pressed to see through a well-crafted lie - they are predisposed to see pure-blood serpentfolk as their true leaders, and one that demonstrated clear mastery over their former leader (does Issilar use his dagger as a slashing weapon? If so, then Akarundo would take no damage from Issilar's dagger attacks and could shrug off his offensive spells) could credibly seem like a god.
I decided my group needed more foreshadowing, so I gave two of them dreams. First, I told them that some dreams are vivid and fresh and others are fleeting and remembered only vaguely, but that many dreams have impacts on the subconscious. They might, therefore, be able to talk of their dreams the next day, but they might not. The dreams might have effects and would probably have roleplaying effects, but as subconscious effects, those couldn't be spoken of. I handed out cards to two of the players tonight:
Foreshadowing Ydersius:
You see a giant snake and a tiny woman. The tiny woman beheads the snake. While you watch, the skull and the snake discorpulate into smoke and then reconstitute into a snake. You then see five, distinct, swarms of ants attack the snake. In a fit of rage, you stomp on the snake and lop its head off.
The dream has given you a sense of clarity. Today, you have a +1 bonus to will saves, reflex saves and initiative.
Role-playing: Today, you are more likely to charge forward, to be bold and take action, even if you'd otherwise think it reckless.
You can (but do not have to) share the dream. You CANNOT share the effects of the dream.
Foreshadowing the Paranoia of the Vaults:
You dream that each member of the party has taken up arms against each other. [Fighter] cut down [Wizard] with his polearm. [Ranger] shot [Druid] with his longbow, [Bard] got [Fighter] around the neck with his whip and then [Ranger] and [Bard] stabbed each other. As your lifeblood seeps out of you, you see a pale green mist rise out of each party-member's corpse and tiny mushrooms or lichen start to grow on each body.
The dream has shaken your confidence in the party. Today, you are under the effects of paranoia - You take a -4 penalty to Will saves and Charisma-based skill checks. You cannot receive benefit from or attempt the Aid Another action. You cannot willingly accept aid (INCLUDING HEALING) unless you make a DC 17 will save.
Role-playing: You are distrustful of the party today.
You cannot share either the dream or the effects with the party.
The first one ended up being a little too "on the nose" since I rolled a random encounter with an Army Ant Swarm the next morning, but it worked great. The wizard got the first dream and since it told him that he was more likely to be bold and rush into battle, that's just what he did. "I don't have any way of damaging a swarm, but, I KNOW! I'll light myself on fire and that will do more damage to the swarm than to me!"
Since the second dream wasn't shared with the group, I think I'll reuse it for each member of the party, in turn.
I'm going to have them dream about several of the major plot-points, plus a few of the things they experienced on Smuggler's Shiv (one character really hated the Shocker Lizards, so they'll make an appearance in his dreams). Nobody's asked yet, I guess they just take vivid, reality-affecting dreams at face value, but if they do, I'm blaming it on the hallucinogenic paste that Nkeshi gave them. Must have side effects, I guess.
Oh, and Nkeshi took care of the swarm for the party before the wizard could kill himself with his human-torch interpretation.
I think this book 6, if my players make it through the mid-game slogs, has the potential to be epic! Raise an army, turn the city into a huge weapon, invade the citadel and kill a god! There are some really good baddies, and lots of hooks for post-module campaigns.
As a GM, I enjoyed the beginning of Smuggler's Shiv. It was a good use of in media res. The players sit down at the table, both in RL and in the module, I get their character names and say, "You're on a ship, and after several weeks at sea, you sit down to dinner. Make a fort save."
Spoiler:
As written, it's not a real fort save, it's just to determine who wakes up first. So, you didn't really FAIL the roll, you SUCCEEDED in waking up first! It's all in how you look at it!
Then, smash-cut to the beach - a crab-thing just bit your toe. You're in combat, with no gear. Your comrades are still unconscious next to you - though the biting crab-things will take care of that. Done right and there's not even any time to wonder about the weirdness of the "auto-failed" saves, though...
Spoiler:
Many of the traps and such on the Shiv have detection and disable DCs so high that they are auto-fails for a low-level party without a dedicated skill-monkey
It makes for a very cinematic opening.
As for the fire, your GM probably just wanted to use the cool mechanic of fire-fighting that's referenced in the module. Plot-wise, it's neither here, nor there.
Spoiler:
It's the fact that there WAS an attempt on your warehouse that moves the plot along, plus the encounter that is scripted to occur after the warehouse workers tell you of some bad doings going on down by the docks.
Tonight, my party did Nkechi's quests and the dream combat. Two issues came up that I was was curious about:
Water Challenge The kelpie's "captivating lure" ability - is it really a single save and then the kelpie gets to go to town on the victim that fails? It says that a "victim within 5 feet of the kelpie simply stands and offers no resistance to its attacks.
Wind Challenge It's a DC 20 climb check on the easy side of the cliff, which is 500 feet tall! My party spent 30 minutes discussing whether it was possible to get anyone up there safely (best climbers in the party are +8 and +10 - so one could climb it if he took off his gear) much less the entire party and if they got one person up there could they avoid getting pummeled by what they believed would be a pretty big and unhappy bird. It struck my group as an unrealistic challenge and they were ready to chuck it (I downgraded the DC because I wanted to get the dream combat in). Did anyone else have mechanical issues with this challenge?
