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Is there still someone here in 2018 ? After many years of play, my group is finally close to finish this campaign. They defeated Sermignatto last weekend, and I discribed the way surviving arbiters and nobles in Korvosa start to discuss about the future of their city. Now I'm thinking about who will be the next King/Queen of Korvosa. I have a bit of time because now they have to go to the Sunken Queen, but not that much. In my campaign, Glorio Arkona (Bahor) managed not only to survive, but also to convince the PCs that he was a poor victim of the Rakshasa who replaced his beloved sister. The PCs think he is a decent human noble, maybe he is doing some illegal underground transaction but that's all they can suspect about him. On the other hand, they have seen him distributing food to the poor in Old Korvosa, so I Think they believe he would be a decent ruler. Now I'm wondering about how the Noble families in Korvosa choose their ruler ?
I think it would be very fun if the PCs were involved in helping Glorio Arkona gaining the Crimson Throne ! ;-) What do you think about it ?
If you want longer APs, just add modules as side missions. Plenty of advice on that. Given the sales for higher level modules and mythic, I don't think you're going to get longer APs. Shorter ones, maybe, though! Personnaly, I only need shorter APs, but I've some people asking for longer ones (look at the last link I pointed). That's why I mentionned the possibility of an 8-Book AP. Again, adding content to a 6-book AP to make it reach level 20 requires a lot of work. I think people would be happy to have the job done in the books.
We've already had this discussion years ago, but there'is something new ! I've just seen that the next Starfinder AP will be a 3 volume AP. OK it's not Pathfinder, but still it's a Paizo AP... So I start to hope again for a Pathfinder Campaign with less than 6 volumes. Personnally, I would love a 4 Volume AP starting around level 5. That format would suit best my rythm and level preferrences as a DM. Like many groups I think, I've experienced many campaign starts form level 1 to level 1d6+1, ending by a TPK. But not so many campaigns have run to the end. I'm not the only one :
I Know I could take a 6 Volume AP and skip the first volume, and maybe some part of the second, but that's not the same as having an AP designed that way : I requires some work, and worst of all it usually requires to skip one of the best volume in the serie. Again, I'm not the only one thinking that way :
Years ago when a discussion about this subject arose, I remember that one argument against changing the traditionnal 6 volume format was the need to announce the future Campaigns in summer, at GenCon. Well I can understand that, but still, it doesn't prevent to have other formats, as long as they fit in a 12 month year. So with 12 volumes, instead of having two 6 volume campaigns, we could have for example :
But that's not the only solution. Maybe there can be 3 APs in one year.
Oh yes, one could says there are probably more customers for the traditionnal 6-Volume APs. Yes, Maybe that's right. But those customers already have lots of choices ! From Rise of the Runelords to Ruins of Azlant, that's 21 campaigns so far, I bet most of 6-Volume customers haven't played all these 21 campaigns... Edit : Making the links good.
I've read the new playtest, and I'm quite disappointed. I haven't been able to read a single class to the end, I've stalled before the end for each of the 6 new classes. I have the feeling that my game is becoming more and more bloated, and I'm unhappy with that. I cannot give feedback about how they play because I've been unable to create a single character using the playtest. I really tried to but I felt overwelmed by the number of things to take care of before making my choices. That was about 3 days ago. I steped back and didn't open again the playtest until today. Today I decided to give it another try. But still I found those new classes to complicated. I really love the description of the classes. I read this :
I read, role, alignement, hit die, starting wealth, class skills, weapons & armors, everything id OK, until :
Damn, that's way too long and complicated !!! And still I have only 18 spirits instead of 54 (I know these are the 54 cards of my harrowing deck - cool idea by the way). So I step back again and think : Is that me getting too old ?
Barbarian : 3 pages
Kineticist : 13 pages
In the CRB, all classes have a beautiful picture that takes up some space but still, most classes are shorter than Occult Adventures playtest. So it's not only me getting older ! Well, it looks that for me, a class description shouldn't exceed 4 pages before I get bored. I know that some classes in the CRB exceed this limit, but :
I'm not sure because I haven't been able to keep my concentration to read everything on the medium, but it seems to me that a medium can take absolutly any spirit in the book over his career. 18 spirit to choose from every day is quite too much. And tomorrow 54 spirits to choose from ??? Woaw. I said that de spirits matching the Harrow deck is a good idea, but every spirit is too complicated by it's own.
Also, a character should be restricted to only some spirits, using for example the cleric's 1 step alignement rule. So I have only one feedback fo this playtest : Make it simpler. I want to add a quote for a conclusion : Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
@eakratz : Yes it was too late for my game, but thanks anyway. @Christopher Dudley : It's funny because it was almost the same thing in my game :
I'm DMing LOF with pathfinder rules, and my players are now finishing The end of Eternity (part 4 of 6). I find that there is too much treasure in this campaign. Since the end of The howl of the Carrion King all characters have been ahead of the wealth by level. Of course most of the treasure is hidden, and my players missed about 25% of the hidden treasure, but still they're ahead of the supposed wealth for their level. However there's one thing to my campaign :
The characters in my campaign are 1 level behind the proposed progression.
Yes it's common that a class gives a class feature that works like a feat, but in this case, the feat is far better than the class feature. To use the "targeting torso exploit" you have to spend 1 grit point and a full-round action.
So, I have this class feature I've only tried to use once (unsuccessfully) and I won't probably use it in the next game. After next game I'll reach level 8 (if we survive) and take Improved Critical feat, so that this class feature will become totally useless.
Are the characters build with a 15-points buy ? If not, maybe that's why they are too poweful. I made that mistake at the start of my current AP, and I now find my players have too powerfull characters. Another solution to that problem is possible if you don't count XP and just tell the players "You level up Now !". Instead of leveling when it is supposed to, you just shift and make them get levels more slowly.
I downloaded this updated version but I'm desappointed : The updated version is far more bigger than the previous one. The last one was 68,250 KB, but the new one is 117,403 KB. I remember there was already a problem like this a few years ago, It was solved.
Fortunatly I can stick to the lite version now.
Thanks very much ! I'm not sure they will go in area I9, but that's good to know. Madfang is stil alive in my game, and they have no plan to attack him. All of the Unchosen are dead. Right now the PCs' objective is to go under the Maggot Trone to find out what is seeking Zayifid there.
Good catch on the whispering wind spell, I missed it. But it's even better about summon monster II, because they just found a summon monster II wand in coils of flames (the set piece with Salamanders). The Witch has 1 rank in Linguistics, so I will allow her to identify the runes as Terran. This should be enough, I hope. Again, thanks a lot Are.
I was re-reading Part Five in the House of the Beast, preparing for my gaming session tonight. And I suddently realized that my players are totally unable to gain access to the Pit of Screaming Ghosts ! The problem lies in the earth-elemental animated cage in J4. It can only be activated by one of 3 means :
None of my players have access to any of these !
I knew this for a long time, but I thought they could rely on spellcasting. However :
I can solve that problem by adding a scroll in the treasure they found last time. Last game finished late, and I didn't told them exactly what they looted. Tonight's session should be started by an inventory of the looted material. So, I've been looking for a spell with [Earth] or [Air] descriptor, on their spell list. But I'm unable to find any ! Can anyone help me finding a spell with [Earth] or [Air] descriptor in those lists :
Or any other idea ? Thanks !
Name : Yassmine
Yassmine was once a slave to Amwyr Yuseifah, she was bought for only 100 gp. She was the cheapest of the slaves because she was not so pretty, but moreover because she was very violent towards the eunuch guards. The good natured PCs wanted to save as much slaves as possible so they buyed the cheapest slaves to free them. Other slaves took mundane jobs in the recovering town of Kelmarane, but Yassmine wanted to kill gnolls. She was enslaved by gnolls, her family was killed or enslaved by gnolls also. So she began to help the heroes of Kelmarane and volonteered to come to the House of the Beast.
After they allied with Grundmoch and killed Ghartok the Carrion King, they discovered that Zayifid was looking for something under the House of the Beast. By then, the PCs knew Zayifid was Evil, and wanted to find whatever he was searching, before him. They tried to access under the house of the Beast by going to an unexplored tunnel in H11, and so they went to the lair of the salamanders. As they were now level 6, I decided this module was a bit too easy for them. So I Added 2 regular salamanders with Thratnias, and discarded Lesaar's dreams of ruling the tribe.
One Salamander was able to knock Yassmine unconcious and drag her into the lava pool.
Exemple of broken maths ?
The paladin's BAB was actually higher than his own AC. And the monk had an AC about 25 points higher than his BAB. That is the kind of broken maths you can find at such high levels.
It's not a PC, but it's a death worth mentioning :
After Xulthos says that he wants to kill every PC until the last one begs to become his slave, everyone rolls initiative. The witch rolls a natural 20, and acts first.
Xulthos sleeps. The paladin comes by, everyone waits for the next turn, and then the paladin smites evil with a coup de grace. I roll poor again, and fail the fortitude save (DC above 30). Game over Xulthos ! It was way too easy for the players, I did not follow the recommandation that the PCs should be level 5, because they are Pathfinder characters. They were only level 4.
The link is broken. Is there somewhere else, where we can find this map ?
Thanks for your feedback, both of you. Maybe I will do it that way : Undrella will go on a spying mission for Kardswann, and show up at the Monastery. Depending on the PC's reaction she might :
2) (if they look like they want to talk) : Try to negociate, by asking her stuff back, and proposing her help against Kardswann again. My next game is in 2 weeks, so any other advice will be welcomed.
I run Howl of the Carrion King, and my players did quite well so far. However half of them never played Pathfinder or D&D before, and last session was not so brillant. During last session, they made a few poor choices, and now Kardswann is aware of them. Here is what they did after installing in the monastery : They manage to save Oxvard, and to kill a group of 6 gnolls near the pesh field, they escaped the dust digger and let it devour the freshly dead gnolls. This first step was brillant, Kardswann has no idea why his 6 gnolls disappeard, and he didn't know about Oxvard's rescue. Oxvard gave them some informations about the village, and how he was captured by the gnolls and their demon ally (Kezurkian). Next day (the 4th after the Monastery's liberation) they went on another hit & run raid against the village. They were able to kill the Peryton, but not without raising the alarm. However the guards from B9 and their hyenas took a long time to go from B9 to the other side of the bridge. And they split the party !
I made Undrella appear then, she proposed them to cover their track if they gave her the peryton's horns, heart and fangs. She wanted to use these components for her potions. She also asked for a future service (but had no time to ask for the snake's head). She talked passionatly with the seductive Paladin.
As Undrella began to talk with the gnolls, he went out of the mill and attacked them (insulting the gnolls and ignoring the harpy).
They went to the monastery to recover. We stopped the session at this point. Now, the gnoll and Kezurkian can explain Kardswann about the PCs, and they should prepare for another attack. However, they cannot send the peryton spying on the monastery.
I don't know what to do with Undrella.
I'm DMing this AP right now, and I've already bought the first sets. I would enjoy buying the next ones if they come early enough. I believe we are quite a number of players in France to start this AP now. It has just been translated, we've already recieved the PDF, and we are waiting for the paper versions.
I think his AC should be 21, and touch AC 14, because his Dex give him +3. Also his hp should be 68 (8d10+24 = 5+6+5+6+5+6+5+6+24). PS : Also the fear bonus for the fighters is writen differently in other Pathfinder sources (eg in the GMG) : it's the bonus writen in brackets, not the total will save against fear.
Haleen needs no change by luck.
I've just started the campaign last saturday, from the French translated version by Black Book Éditions. I have 5 players around the table, their chartecters are :
For those able to read French, I post my summaries here :
I won't do it in English.
Many good ideas of AP places have been posted so far, but I wish some other things in future AP : - An AP that goes up to level 20.
This maybe combined in some way. For example, an 8 volume AP going from level 1 to 20 looks good, combined with a 4 volume AP starting at level 4.
That's good for me as I allow only classes from Core Rulebook + APG except Summoner. No Summoner, no Gunslinger, no Ninja, no Samouraï.
The witch is probably advantaged if she takes the Slumber Hex, but with so much heat, she will have to spend much ressources on protecting her familiar. That's balanced in a way. If one wants to play a Camel or Horse Rider, I'll give a warning. What do you think about Shazathared or Nefeshty as Witch patrons ? Is that a good idea, or should a Witch patron stay unknown at the end of the AP ?
It looks like it's the same problem with every language. I'm a French Pathfinder Player, and we also have to wait quite long to get products. It looks like we are luckier, because our APG was released earlier than in Germany or Italy. But Black Book Editions put all of their effort on rulebooks, and there is not much effort left on the other supplements.
But as a German player told before, the translation of rule books is a very complicated manner, the French APG is full of mistakes.
If you are posting here it means you can read an write english correctly, so I suggest that you do it this way : Buy the rulebooks in English, and only the fluff (Setting and Adventure Path) in your local language. These books are not so sensitive about precise words, and it is far much easier to read a boxed text aloud to the players if it's in your own language.
I plan on running this AP as soon as it is available in French. (more info about that here : http://www.black-book-editions.fr/index.php?site_id=159 ) One of my players wants to play an Inquisitor of Iomedae (Gnoll Killer from Solku), and another one want to play a Witch. I think this will be fine, but if anyone knows about a potential problem, let me know. I'm still waiting to know which kind of patron the witch will choose, maybe I can tie her with Shazathared or Nefeshty ? (especially if she chooses Agility, Elements or Water)
Let me introduce myself :
I loved this module when it came out, but I didn't GMed it yet, because of the handouts : Most of my players aren't fluent in english. I beleive Andrew C Gale is aware that Christophe "Dalvyn" started translating this great module in french. I'm not talented at translating, but I've a sharp eye to find mistakes and I've rereaded keenly the working version of "Horreur au Roc de la Dague". In my reading I spoted a few mistakes that were not translation errors but were in the orginal version. I guess it should have been reported earlier, but I've just received the new updated version today, only to find out the mistakes I've spoted are still there. Here they are : Page 57, the dwarven wizard has only 15 point of abilities whereas the other pregenerated characters have 17 points :
Joreune
Llander
Rongo
Since the module is very difficult for 1st level characters, I believe this mistake is important. My suggestion : Give the dwarf 12 in Constitution, that will get him 7 hp (which is still quite low given the difficulty of this module), and +1 Fortitude Save. (By the way, nice thing the Pregens have a picture now) Another mistake :
But earlier, an entry states "Father Arden has returned" and it is (Dated the same day) as the previous entry (Dated 8 months after the earthquake). So I belive the Entry starting with "A terrible thing has happened. Father Arden has been found murdered." should be (Dated 8 months and 3 days after the earthquake). If readers are interested with a french version of this module we are working on it here :
Work is slow, we are just a bunch of volonteers, but we are eager to produce quality work for free.
I've downloaded the new version, it's around 77 MB and it's great ! Thanks a lot Paizo ! @DigitalMage :
One is called "TurboPRD", it's full of links and very useful checking a rule quickly with a laptop/tablet/smartphone. But it's 1484 pages long and around 25 MB. The other one is very 'printer friendly', it's only 7 MB.
I really hope you find out how to improve this. The 3rd printing was diplaying rapidly on my destop computer, but the 4th one is really slow (I have to wait about 2 seconds between pages). 3rd printing was quite slow on my androïd smartphone, but doable. Now it is really a nightmare ! Fortunatly i found a lightweight SRD on www.d20pfsrd.com, which is very usefull for quick reference on my smartphone. |
