Mahavira's page

There's one thing that made me CERTAIN that Vesk are 100% carnivores.. the Ghoran race are friends with Vesk. Considering Ghorans evidently have "perfect physiology which unfortunately included perfect taste - their flesh-like rinds were so delicious that humans hunted them nearly to extinction." - from Alien Archive 2.

Speaking of which, I've wondered for a while if there is any Vesk cultural tradition of eating sentients, either for ritual purposes (kill the bravest warrior among the enemy and eat his heart to partake of strength) or because they view other sentients as enough below them as to be edible (or good "sport hunting" targets, and you eat what you kill). I don't imagine it's common -now- or they'd have more trouble keeping their empire in place but would it be too out of place to have some group of mercenaries who "keep to the old ways" or a sadistic prison warden who has a private labyrinth he releases disfavored prisoners into to then hunt?

Thanks for the errata and summary (which matches what I gathered, so I'm at least not blind). You'd think they'd tie DCs to size rather than tier. Tier covers too much ground, I think - a fairly old battleship and a the Normandy from Mass Effect might well be the same tier, and I have to assume most PC parties don't suddenly switch to a dreadnought once they are high level. I'm a little surprised there aren't more skill boosting items or systems - an improved set of helm controls that Grant a bonus to piloting doesn't seem like a crazy thing to have exist.

While I have owned the rulebooks for a while, I have yet to actually play Starfinder. There is something that seems odd in the starship combat rules, specifically the stunts. The DCs are set based in part on the tier of the ship, and at least one of them has the DC increase by more than 1 per tier. Unless I'm missing some expected means to increase skills, it seems like you'd eventually hit the point where it is harder for an expert (aka high level) pilot with his custom ship (aka equal tier to his level) to perform stunts than if he stole some off the assembly line scow, and may even be worse off in his custom ship than a lower level pilot would be in the scow. Am I reading something wrong, or is there some rule I've missed that escalates skills more than I think? On one level I get that "you don't give a ferrari to someone with a learner's license", but on the other, I think that the Starfinder version of the Red Baron should be doing stunts fairly routinely.

I like the idea of escapees. "invaders" liberating a DotB planet would be interesting but I suspect it might be difficult to make PC level actions seem significant given that this would probably be a fairly large scale military operation. One possibility would be the PCs are survivors of a failed attempt who have banded together to try to make the evac point, and along the way run across information that would allow a small strike force to turn the tide / make a second attack successful (maybe they were the part of the first wave, which went rather badly, but the actual liberation force is still viable).

The other reason is that having random, fugly monsters be part of their organization is part of their ethos. They're very much a "all your species are belong to us" kind of faction and like to repurpose whoever they find into either new forms to use, or new food to feed the old forms they already use.

Also, the Machine Cities would be a super awesome place to set at least part of an adventure featuring the Dominion because if I remember right they have a real big hate-boner for advanced technology that isn't corruptable biotech.

Interesting, I missed that point. One wonders how they feel about undead? Eox might also be interesting. We saw a bit of Eox in Dead Suns but a scenario where they are more unequivocally "on side" might also be fun. Some bone sage who thinks, rightly or wrongly, that being undead is protection from going mad might be an "expert" on them that the party has to consult, only to discover that his research includes things like trying to find out if an undead brain collector can still collect brains...

Thanks for the info everyone - I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything in Annihilation Ark or threefold conspiracy. If they use DotB in Horizons of the Vast, my suspicion would be that rather than "the Dominion invades" it would be "the dominion has been here but dormant for thousands of years and you woke it up" - this is a distinction without a difference in some ways, but it makes a difference to how it is introduced.

I'd kind of like to see a "Dark Tapestry" sourcebook (Horrors of the Void or some such name) detailing DotB, the various Cthulhu mythos stuff etc.. My suspicion is that the reason we haven't seen it really detailed is that they're having trouble getting it into focus at a sufficiently granular level to allow them to do it, so we just get fuggly monsters that are referred to as being part of the DotB.

More or less what the subject line says - the Dominion of the Black keeps getting brief mentions in rulebooks (new monsters in particular) and occasionally setting information, but I don't think I've seen anything that goes into any depth. This seems odd - the idea predates Starfinder, and Starfinder is the most natural venue to address it. I dropped out of the AP subscription a while back (early in the swarm one) - do any of the subsequent ones (or projected ones) have DotB as a major antagonist?

It was my mistake for failing to include the text for that ability.

Here you go:
Cannibalistic Vitality (Ex) When a kuru hits a living creature with its bite attack, he gains 1 temporary hit point by ingesting the target’s blood. This ability does not work on creatures that do not have blood.

Thank you for your quick response. I assumed it was a fairly trivial ability given no difference in CR but I didn't want to short change the players in terms of challenge.

The stat blocks for the Kuru reference an ability "Cannibalistic Vitality" (or Cannibalistic vigor or something like that - I don't have my book handy) which doesn't seem to be described in the stat block (maybe I missed it the first time and it wasn't repeated or something?). Kuru don't appear to be in the PRDs - what does this do? Or is it something that can't be done in combat and thus not relevant?

While my group tends to go with higher stat builds, this actually might be a campaign where it would specifically be interesting to have 15 point builds - the party are people who you wouldn't necessarily pick as your "best and brightest", but were, through a trick of fate, where they needed to be when the mythic power started showing up. Then again, adult responsibilities are such that my players are often fuzzy about the normal abilities of their classes (long time with 3.0 and 3.5 so misremembering a lot of things from past editions) and we have one person whose luck is so terrible he's been swallowed whole twice in the same combat (Savage Tide, when we first washed up on the Isle of Dread, swallowed whole, cut his way out, swallowed whole, cut his way out again doing the last damage needed to drop the beast). We considered giving him the flaw "delicious"...

Thanks for the details. I imagine the changes are to allow more people to actually get to module 3...

Xanesha features prominently in the obituaries thread, but I gather from comments people have made that the Anniversary Edition modified her somewhat to make her less of a TPK machine. What was the major change, or was it just an issue of 3.5 vs pathfinder rules making the encounter less survivable?

I like the base idea of Second Darkness, but it is widely considered to have problems - tone shift from scum and villainy to saving the world (combined with generating the false impression the campaign is centred in Riddleport) and the elves are...unsympathetic. The latter is not that hard to fix by just playing them differently, but the first is a bit more trouble.

I've seen the suggestion of using Souls for Smuggler's Shiv as a first chapter, and thought this might help, though obviously a few changes are needed.

1) I skimmed Souls and didn't find much that NEEDS to be tropical, so it can be reskinned to a temperate forest island, perhaps once part of Alaznist's empire (which is mostly underwater I understand). Alaznist was a demon worshipper so a temple of Zura isn't a stretch, and the cannibals can be like the Picts in Conan.

2) I'd like to replace a couple of the castaways with Kwava and Samaritha (she's already the apprentice to a cyphermage and is on the way back from a fedex mission for the boss), levelled down to L2 for convenience. I only have 2 players so the source of NPC assistants is useful in any case.

The faction connections in Souls are:

Red Mantis
Pathfinder Society
Government
Aspis Consortium
Pirates of the Shackles

The pathfinder society and Aspis consortium are fine as is, the rest leave something to be desired. My recollection is that Kwava's part of a mercenary company that sometimes works for the Winter Council. With Samaritha, we'd have cyphermages as a faction. The pirates could perhaps be replaced by one of the gang bosses in Riddleport - Zincher's gang (this could make the pirate lady's chapter 2 quest killing Zincher or otherwise getting her free of him)

3) Obviously replace the serpent traitor with Depora Azinrae - part of the ruins on the island is similar to the cyphergate and she decided to study it to see if it gave further insight. To get Depora to CR 6, I was going to add a level and make her noble (also gives her suggestion 1/day, explaining how she controlled the captain). I might need to give her spellcasting levels (perhaps shift to L3 fighter L3 cleric (abraxus)) to explain how she got past the lacedons - she'll have enough feats that rebuke undead won't be a hardship.

Children of the Void - connect the PCs to this by quests from their fellow castaways. Samaritha and the Pirate lady are already on the island with their own factions - Kwava's mercs and either the Aspis or Pathfinders could bankroll the PCs expedition with scholarly/heroic as well as monetary reasons, and while there they can rescue Samaritha from Akatas and pirate lady from Zincher.

The shift from medium track to fast track is an issue here - I could either retcon the xp and just switch to fast track, or add extra xp in the form of side quests and random encounters - getting into a fight with Zincher's crew after arriving in Riddleport would be good forshadowing of eventually fighting him on the Island.

My main hesitation is that I would half like to run serpent's skull as well (for all that it is about as highly regarded as Second Darkness), though there the big change would be I'd use one of the more common firearms rules for a more Solomon Kane feel, and don't know that I want to reuse Souls.

Cold as Ice

(i shall duck now:)

If we're going there, then this for episode 5:

Don't know how this avoided being mentioned to date, to be honest...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM

Really anything by the red army choir is probably good somewhere in the AP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1q_0PXmJOk

or the anime version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaepnWhr09U - maybe for the female revolutionary in the second module

a softer POLYUSHKA POLYE if you don't want the all male version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04_rDXjQuoQ

I'm familliar with the Slaymate, but prefer to stick with the Asura - no real necromancy involved, I have always assumed a certain number of zombies spontaneously generate, particularly in the sites of supernatural evil (that and level appropriate monsters that can be put in an asylum are somewhat limited).

I think I would stick with the wand of shocking grasp (excellent idea) rather than the gloves, and presume that with specialized training the doctors could UMD it to generate shock therapy rather than just damaging blasts.

Re: Psionics, I'm not really a fan of adding additional rulesets (don't have a problem flavor wise, just don't want the added complexity when my players don't really have the time to learn to use them properly - neither do I in truth, job and all).

As to further adventures, I was thinking in terms of having the PCs eventually go to a dungeon at the South Pole of Akiton, where the Elder Things or Yithians had a supply of crystals needed to power the mind swap device - hadn't decided whether they have to get to Akiton by a gate at the bottom of a dungeon (followed by overland trek in Akiton) or by summoning and binding Shantaks to ride through the void.

Mahavira wrote:

Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.

They went on a killing spree, but cannot remember any of it. Make them very vunerable to possession. People who have heard of him(most have) are very intimidated.

Even worse are Hannible or Saw type geniouses, who can tell you why each atrocity was absolutely neccessary.

Everyone was essentially possessed and nobody remembers what they were up to, so particular vulnerability doesn't quite work, alas. I was actually thinking in terms of having the apparently lucid guy have been possessed by the BBEG himself and have committed some horrific massacare or terrifying display of magic (blot out the sun or something).

It occurs to me I also need a list of improvised weapons that you could find in an asylum (well a medieval one) as until the PCs get their personal effects (which the LG staff have carefully stored for them) they'll need something to fend off the zombie nurses, escaped serial killers, and the creepy little girl.

Bludgeons are easy enough - chair legs etc., not to mention rolling pins (if they get to the kitchen, which will also be well stocked with knives and maybe a cleaver). Scissors in the infirmary, and perhaps surgical blades? Holy water in the chapel (which the Asura can't bring itself to enter yet, it just looks in, eyes burning with hate)? Perhaps the office of the facility administrator has an antique suit of armor with a ceremonial sword?

That definitely works for hallucinations. Mine is probably too strong, just the way I had it in my mind (and the way I'd ask the DM if I could play it) is like seeing a random person that's not there, giving advice or pointing out a specific object. If you fail then the person or thing is just messing with you.

Love the tripurasura idea, especially with good foreshadowing. If the kid were in a cell, how would you explain it making people go crazy and attacking them? Does it just let itself out? Are the workers of the asylum sort of like it's unknowing thralls?

It's main form is tiny, and it can both levitate and spider climb before I give it any levels - windows and ventilation systems probably allow it to get out of its cell (or for that matter since it's an alternate form, I might allow it to twist and contort in ways it shouldn't so a small body squeezing out of a tight space could look horribly disturbing), or simply making a fuss and murdering the orderly or nurse who comes to help. With sorceror levels, hypnotism or charm person (particularly backed by wisdom damageing poison) can convince a nurse to "lend" the keys. When it's a case of what one NPC does to another off screen, I don't really get to fussy about whether the abilities actually allow it.

I haven't really decided how far gone the asylum is at campaign start - on the one hand there is merit in establishing that the staff are genuinely kind and decent people (to make their madness/slaughter the more 'shocking' (realistically nobody who starts a role playing game in an asylum expects anything but a massacare)) but it would very quickly get old (Nurse Havisham gave me extra pudding? Fantastic!), or whether the "experimental new medicine" the visiting expert brought only bring them to after the place is already a nightmare from Silent Hill with zombie nurses and the actual serial killer in the asylum loose with a straight razor. I'm pretty sure a video game would start with teh latter and you'd have flashbacks as to what the place was like before as you explore (you look in a mirror and the reflection is how the room used to look, etc.), but that doesn't always translate to tabletop rpg with multiple characters.

I would think a "nice" asylum would allow people to keep their holy symbols, but the rest of their effects would have to be found early on (or encounter design would have to be very careful, like the first dungeon in Way of the Wicked) and there would need to be either a safe place to rest or a convincing reason to go back in.

Thanks for all the suggestions...

for violent lunatics...3 extra rounds of rage (1/2 what you get for extra rage) would be good if a barbarian, if not, rage self as the spell cast at 1/2 character level...I also thought about orc ferocity (upgrading to full ferocity if already a half orc) - kind of powerful but brings to mind the stereotype PCP user who just won't go down.

I considered having something like hallucinations providing a bonus to perception to see concealed things (your perceptions are off, but that means you see things others wouldn't and ordinary camoflage doesn't work on you properly)

Love the bonus to fire/acid damage...+1 should be plenty (and meets the 1/2 a feat level)

Different trait effects for different classes (some at least) would be good, albeit hard work. I'd like for writes on walls not to be wizard only, maybe a bonus to UMD to activate scrolls?

I was trolling the bestiaries, and tripurasura from bestiary 3 look good - their alternate form is a small humanoid, usually a gnome or child, so I could have one with "creepy little girl" (from the Ring and its derivatives, and the FEAR game series) as an alternate form (they also have spider climb, so it could do the asylym scuttle you see in Exorcist movies) and they are hard to detect magically and their poison does wisdom damage, making non adventurers go crazy, maybe with a couple of sorcerer levels to make it more reasonable as an end boss. The best part is they're obscure enough nobody will be able to metagame past them.

Some background - for some time I've been playing around in my head with the idea of a dark tapestry themed campaign, featuring an alien lich (bone sage of eox, for those that care) using a Yithian mind transfer device to assume control of Golarion natives (with the possible end goal of recreating Eox civilization by having all the bone sages do this, or even using it to implant thousands or even millions of alien ghosts on the citizens of a country).

While it is all well and good to come up with a villain and an evil scheme, a starting point for L1 characters is sometimes hard to find. It occurred to me to possibly have the PCs all have been previously Yithed, have no idea what they were doing for the past several months, and languishing in a madhouse for weeks after their unwanted tenants departed. The PCs all return to lucidity around the time something terrible happens to the asylum (haven't decided whether it's a cleanup team of MIBs or whether one of the lunatics was actually possessed and a bottom tier demon or devil was able to manifest) and they have to escape from the no longer safe asylum (as a change, I was going to have it run by kindly nurses and doctors that are part of a minor holy order of Sarenrae or someone rather than a hellpit run by sadists who experiment on people).

Once out, perhaps rescuing a visiting expert (perhaps he proscribed new medications that caused the PCs to recover) or perhaps just getting his journal which contains hints to the next adventure, the PCs realize they all suffered the same memory loss for around the same time, and start looking into what happened. For campaign traits, I thought each trait could be based on a kind of fictional/cinematic insanity (as opposed to a realistic depiction of actual mental illness), basically the symptoms they had while recovering from the mind transfer relate to what their bodies did while under alien control (this would come out in later adventures).

Catatonic: while in the asylum, the PC just sat and stared into space, unresponsive to anything. The PC was actually contemplating something (incomprehensible now), and now has greater powers of concentration (+1 to all concentration checks) and is unusually able to be still (+1 to stealth).

"the Gibbering": while in the asylum, the PC spoke only Aklo. The PC knows Aklo, and linguistics is always a class skill.

Writes on walls (wizard only): as one occasinally sees in movies, th character was constantly scribbling complex diagrams, equations and the like on the walls of his cell. The character knows one additional L1 spell, which is not in his spellbook but which may be prepared as though he had the Spell Mastery feat.

Violent: the PC was uncontrollably violent and begins play wearing a straightjacket. Not sure what the trait bonus should be, except perhaps a bonus to fighting with unarmed strikes or improvised weapons.

Paranoid: the PC was convinced that some person or organization was out to get him (and was responsible for his presence in the asylum), even to the point of believing that from one day to the next the nurses and doctors were being replaced by imposters. Bonus to initiative or sense motive?

Sleepwalker: despite being tied down and locked in his room, the PC always ended up sleepwalking in the atrium or garden. The PC has +1 to escape artist and disable device, and has a lockpick secreted on his person.

Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.

Phobic: the PC has a morbid fear of some particular type of creature (a fairly limited list) and spent his time in the asylum terrified of even pictures of it. The PC has a +1 dodge bonus to AC against creatures of the type (dogs, perhaps, or vermin)

Obsessed with cleanliness/purity: the PCs obsession with the purity of his precious bodily essences took the form of excessive cleanliness, picky eating, and obscure exercises. It turned out he was on to something, as he now has +1 to fortitude saves.

Any fantasy insanities I've missed or suggestions for trait bonuses? Or is this a terrible idea for a campaign start and I should go back to the drawing board?

Pendagast wrote:

can you enlighten us as to why members of the winter council turned into Drow in SD? Presence of Demons? Energies from a darklands artifact? Never washed his undies??

As detailed in that adventure, the spontaneous transformation of an elf into a drow is SUPER rare, but can happen if an elf is sufficiently chaotic evil AND worships a demon lord, and even then it's super super rare. It's happened twice in hundreds of books we've published—both times in the Second Darkness adventure path (once with an event that starts things rolling by creating the AP's big bad end gal, and once "on-screen" so the PCs can see it happen).

Hm, hadn't realized the BBEG was a demon worshipper from the start. I'd always assumed she was a cleric of Callistria who didn't realize she had long since ceased to be CN, and converted to Abraxus after joining house Azinrae.

Presumably transformation didn't happen on Castrovel because of distance from the source of corruption, the surface of Golarion is close enough that it's possible but super rare, and once you're deep enough to be in the darklands proper, it's more likely (if a pregnant elf was held prisoner in Darklands for an extended period, would the baby be drow, I wonder...).

Back to the original thought, based on his eminence's contributions, it seems likely that Drow syndrome as such can't be readily transported to Castrovel, you'd have to find or create a similar source of corruption and even then the result would probably not be precisely drow but would rather have features relating to the source.

A simple question: can elves from Castrovel turn into drow? When elves returned to Golarion, they discovered that normal elves can turn into drow, but were they elves fresh from Castrovel, or were they born on Golarion? If drow went to Castrovel, could they cause sufficiently evil Castrovel elves to become drow, or is the cause not something easily taken from Golarion (the "magnetic field" or whatever)?

Actually... the faith of Asmodeus is, by and large, pretty pleased with the Worldwound and isn't particularly eager to see that situation end.

Because the fact that so many crusaders headed north to fight demons as the Age of Lost Omens started is perhaps one of the primary reasons Cheliax is now ruled by diabolists; there simply wasn't enough folks left behind to oppose this development because they were all up north.

So as long as there's demons in the north, Cheliax gets away with a lot more than it probably should.

That's really interesting given that Faiths of Corruption says "The more fervent Asmodean warriors may also journey to the Worldwound,

It really depends on your GM and your group how much things are getting modified to accommodate a character like that. If I were GMing the campaign for you, I'd ask that you search out other character options for this Adventure Path.

Fair enough, not every concept works well for every AP, and this is one that would be problematic in several.

Here's a question: a self interested CN rogue may work, more or less, but how about a LN Cleric of Asmodeus, out to smite demons and their worshippers, and shut the worldwound which I doubt the boss likes very much (if nothing else I can't imagine the worldwound is good for the seals on Rovagug, and when Asmodeus imprisons something he wants it to stay imprisoned)? Is that something that will screw with things badly enough that the correct answer is "this is probably not the campaign for that character idea, perhaps another time"?

I'm sort of disappointed the mancatcher won't be a Runelord weapon. It seems a natural for the Runelord of Lust to have.

I'm pretty sure Sorshen doesn't need a man catcher, she seems to be able to catch them just fine as is.

Mahavira wrote:

It kind of makes sense for the runelords of wrath because they were mostly eldritch knights...

I used to think that too, but it's not the case. The Runelords of Wrath were single-classed evokers.

Hm, Dead Heart of Xin refers to Alaznist as an "Arcane Knight", which I had mentally translated to be "Eldritch Knight".

Mahavira wrote:

The title says it all really. Seriously, you're a L20+ wizard and at some point in your career you had nothing better to do with a feat than learn "martial weapon proficiency: obscure pole arm?" Did Xin make his apprentices fight gladiatorial duels while he and his friends bet thousands of quatloos on the victor? Do they get an initiative bonus because the enemy stops to ponder "is that a Voulge or a Glaive-guisarme?" Or were the wizard weapon proficiencies just that different back in Thassilon. It kind of makes sense for the runelords of wrath because they were mostly eldritch knights (though even there, I would expect a one handed weapon that allows them a hand free to cast while they still threaten), but for everyone else?

Their polearms are as much weapons as they are badges of office.

Furhtermore, I wanted the runelords to have several elements that tied them together that made them all feel of a kind, despite the fact that individually they're really pretty different. Making them all single-class wizards was one thing, but then giving them all long hafted weapons was another. In fact, a wizard with a pole arm is such an unusual choice that it really goes a LONG way to give them all some cool connected personalities and the like.

In a perfect world, in the future when someone sees a picture of a wizard dude in robes carrying a magic polearm, I'd like them to say "Oh! That's a runelord!" in the same way folks today see a wizard in robes and a pointy hat and a beard and a staff say "Oh! That's a Gandalf!"

An answer within 10 minutes from "the boss". Can't complain about that. So the answer is more or less "Thassilonians like staffs with blades and hooks on the end the way european royalty like sceptres - they don't have to be practical they have to be evidence that you're the runelord of X"?

The title says it all really. Seriously, you're a L20+ wizard and at some point in your career you had nothing better to do with a feat than learn "martial weapon proficiency: obscure pole arm?" Did Xin make his apprentices fight gladiatorial duels while he and his friends bet thousands of quatloos on the victor? Do they get an initiative bonus because the enemy stops to ponder "is that a Voulge or a Glaive-guisarme?" Or were the wizard weapon proficiencies just that different back in Thassilon. It kind of makes sense for the runelords of wrath because they were mostly eldritch knights (though even there, I would expect a one handed weapon that allows them a hand free to cast while they still threaten), but for everyone else?

My group started playing pathfinder not that long ago (well actually quite a while but we haven't been playing regularly due to RL responsibilities). We finished 3.5 with Savage Tide and Shackled City, using gestalts. With a party of 3, and high stats, in those 3.5 modules we found ourselves starting later modules higher level than we were expected to reach by the end of the modules (in shackled city we outright skipped one), and ran roughshod over most encounters (not sure how much of that was due to gestalting and how much was due to higher level and loot split only 3 ways). Now that we've started pathfinder APs, we're alternating between my DMing Carrion Crown and the other DM running Jade Regent (I went first). Thinking that it was time to get people used to less generous character generation, I made the PCs roll, and got supermen. Thinking that to go with the horror theme I didn't want people levelling to outstrip the module, I decided to divide xp by 4 not 3 (this was also to counteract the high stats). This wasn't a big problem in Harrowstone (all told I was quite pleased with how it turned out, challenge wise) but I'm getting the impression this won't last - Schloss Caromarc is almost certainly going to TPK (this is in part because the PCs are ill suited to the encounters - the arcanist is a sorcerer whose spells are mostly subject to SR and the lead melee is a 2 weapon ranger - lots of weak attacks is exactly what NOT to have here). If/when the denizens of the Schloss rack up another party to their tally, I am probably moving to Shattered Star or Runelords (anniversary), and was wondering how people manage xp with smaller groups - without the complication of gestalts, is the action economy enough that being higher level isn't a big deal?

Question: Why do you not use the "noble drow" modification? Obviously it wouldn't be for everyone, but in Shadow in the Sky you added monsters (ok, 1 dretch) when you could have had the same CR by making Depora a noble drow (and making the PCs first drow be a sufficient badass that it makes an impression, even if most drow later in the path are standard drow). Do you think it doesn't scale well at low levels, or did you have another reason?

As I understand it, the problems people have with second darkness are as follows:

1) chapter 1 points PCs in the wrong direction as to the trajectory of the AP - going from seedy underworld type to the kind of hero they expect later on is something of a stretch

2) the PCs are unlikely to want to go above and beyond for the elves because the elves are not exactly friendly or grateful (and there's that whole chapter 5 thing)

A common suggestion appears to be "make the pcs be elves/half elves", but my thought is to take another tack.

The PCs are not a random collection of do gooders, they are employees of the Aspis Consortium or some similarly amoral entity. Their involvement with the Golden Goblin is part of a scheme against Zincher - they get close to Saul and help him to get Zincher's attention off his business allowing the Consortium's groomed crime replacement to step in. The drow in the basement is interesting and filed for future reference, but when Zincher goes to the island after the meteor strike, that's too good an opportunity to finish the job. Finding drow again, and finding they have a connection to the meteor is too interesting - since their patsy Kwava knows where to find more Drow, they are directed to follow along and gather more intel about this new kind of elf and what kind of threat or opportunity they present - getting the magic to call meteors is a plus, and having Kyonin vanish would be bad for business.

Rather than start as seedy underworld figures and becoming world saving heroes who do the right thing in the face of ingratitude and even treachery, they start and finish as hard boiled mercenaries with a secret agenda who can put up with the elves' crap because it's part of the real job (as opposed to whatever the elves are paying them to do). It also makes it more justified that the elves are as suspicious as they are.

So, do you think this would take care of the issues people have with the AP?

The main features of Urban Barbarian are exchanging fast move for an ability called crowd control (+1 bonus to AC when adjacent to multiple enemies and other bonuses that rarely matter) and controlled rage - the ability to either do a normal rage or to add +4 (goes up) to any one of str dex and con, and otherwise not suffer the ac penalty (or get the will save bonus) and retains the ability to use mental skills (profession sailor, for example), feats like combat expertise etc..

To get a great deal out of the other abilities of the barbarian side, it kind of looks like you'd have to go all the way, or I could just dip 2 levels to get uncanny dodge and otherwise go straight corsair.

I was originally thinking straight corsair anyway, but got caught by the idea of a gentrified, wannabe norseman going by the (hopelessly out of date) details in great grandfather's logbook.

Thanks for the feedback, we were late to the Pathfinder bandwagon and I always played more arcanists than anything else.

At some point in the future, we'll be playing Skulls and Shackles, and I thought I'd try a barbarian(urban)/fighter (corsair) cross (essentially the descendant of a viking who gentrified, using his plunder to a plantations and business interests in the Chelish colonies in the Mwangi expanse). With the various abilities each class gets at different levels, however, it isn't entirely clear to me that I'm not better off just staying barbarian (or being a corsair from day one).

Corsair adds: ability to wear heavier armor while swimming/tumbling (I refuse to drown, dammit), improved cleave and great cleave, weapon training and a few extra feats.

Corsair costs: rounds of rage, rage powers, points of damage reduction, and resistance to being flanked (fewer levels to count for uncanny dodge).

As this is my first martial character in the new system (we played 3.5 until quite recently, and I don't think I ever played a barb in the entire 3.0-3.5 period) I'm not sure how to judge the trade off.

About to start Trial of the Beast, and one of the PCs (indeed the only one with social skills) is a cleric with the glory domain. Touch of Glory is supernatural, so I presume that using it will get your wrist slapped/head cut off?

Well, the title more or less says it all. I have a party of 3 players, and to change things up a bit (and also to match the kind of story the AP is based on a bit more closely) I was thinking about using commonplace guns (25% price, martial weapons) for kind of a 16th-17th century, Solomon Kane feel. Given that only a gunslinger is likely to shoot more than once or twice a combat, I don't think it -should- cause too many problems, but I've only skimmed the modules, and we've not had occasion to use the gun rules yet (only made the switch to Pathfinder from 3.5 this year). Possible counters if it would make a big difference would be using a weaker build (we're currently going with 25 to counteract the fact there are only 3 of them) and/or dividing xp by 4. People who have actually run/played the AP, what do you think?

There is also This one.

Also very good, thanks.

Mahavira wrote:

I've been looking for a recording of the goblin song in Burnt Offerings, but all I can find is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zTUIYQVpY

While it probably sounds more or less like goblins singing, I have trouble making out the words and I have the lyrics in hard copy, so it's not much help as a "game aid". Does anyone know of another recording anywhere?

I made one a while back, I only ask that you let me know if you like it.

Goblin Battle Song.

Nicely done! Thanks.

I've been looking for a recording of the goblin song in Burnt Offerings, but all I can find is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zTUIYQVpY

While it probably sounds more or less like goblins singing, I have trouble making out the words and I have the lyrics in hard copy, so it's not much help as a "game aid". Does anyone know of another recording anywhere?

Once upon a time, a good kingdom warred with a powerful evil empire and lost. It was still too powerful for the empire to occupy directly, so instead the evil emperor imposed a horrible treaty (like the one in the story of Theseus where the good nation has to provide annual sacrifices, or something equally godawful). The treaty was drafted using very serious terms (perhaps by a priest of asmodeus who knew their full significance). Decades pass, and the evil empire weakens as its internal conflicts become too great. The heroic king of the good nation decides this is an opportunity to free his realm of the unjust treaty and launches a crusade which succeeds not only in freeing his kingdom from the enemy yoke, but overthrowing the evil nation altogether. Too bad the treaty terms are such that breaching them calls for inevitables to come to enforce it.

Also remember that both sides can be good even if not everyone on each side is. Two chivalrous nations are side by side. Spoiled prince of one kingdom visits the neighboring kingdom, and uses magic to seduce the pretty young wife or daughter of the older king, and the two 'star crossed lovers' flee to the prince's home country. King 1 wants his wife or daughter back and is sure she's been bewitched somehow, or is concerned that there's some kind of scheme to create a claim to his throne. King 2 has a blind spot where it comes to son, and since the girl seems to want to stay, he's not going to send her back. King 1 rages about the "kidnapping" and a brash young knight comes up with an idea to sneak into King 2's palace, rescue the wife/daughter and capture the seducer, but being a brash young knight he didn't think the thing through, screwed up and someone gets killed (maybe even the prince). You now have a war which neither king really wanted but both feel honor bound to prosecute, and after the first couple of battles there are enough grudges to give the war a life of its own.

Well - I d say it sucks pretty badly.

* combat casting - decent
* umarmed strike - what for?
* deflect arrows - very circumstancial
* quickdraw - very circumstancial, very minor effect
* power attack - ok
* bloody assault - you arent full BAB and -5 hit does not fit; the bleed dmg seems minor to me

You might want to check walters guide to the magus:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz40tc&page=1?UM-Walters-Guide-to-the-Magus

Thanks for the link. Unarmed strike is a prereq for deflect arrows and otherwise of no interest - I lose one, I lose both (probably not a huge loss, mind). Deflect arrows, I thought was useful because of spending a long time with weak ac, but you're probably right in that it's only good for monks (aka when it's free). I confess I had assumed that quickdraw worked with wands and that I would periodically be wanting to switch between having a free hand and having a wand in hand.

I'm making a magus for Jade Regent - the party is 3 people, my magus, a summoner (broodmaster) and an inquisitor - nobody has full bab, and nobody's AC is going to be that great. As such, I'd like to make my magus suck a little less than he otherwise is likely to (relatively new to pathfinder and some probably non optimum choices for flavor). As such, please C&C this build:

Half elf magus (uses ancestral arms alt class feature from advanced player's guide)

Feats
L1 (half elf) EWP katana L1 combat casting
L3 improved unarmed strike
L5 deflect arrows L5 bonus quickdraw
L7 power attack
L9 bloody assault
L11 weapon focus (katana) L11 bonus weapon spec (katana)
L13 extra arcana (spell blending, learn enervate and protection from energy)
L15 death from above
L17 L17 no clue, may not be necessary

Arcana
3 arcane accuracy
6 close range
9 ghost blade
12 maximized magic
15 accurate strike

unarmed strike, quickdraw, and deflect arrows are pure flavor, and I'm more or less okay with dropping them. Close range is primarily so in the far future I can slash someone with a maximized disintigrate, generating a kill that looks like something from Blade of the Immortal - realistically there are so few rays it could probably go for something more practical (wand wielder perhaps? with wand mastery added by another extra aracna feat?).

Anyone interested in Rakshasa should read the Rama series by Ashok Banker (I gather he has done other work relating to Hindu myths also, but can't comment on how good/interesting they are).

Mahavira wrote:

While I can see the use of a book on Inevitables and/or Proteans, I have no idea what I'd even do with a book on celestials.

Angel Fanatic as a villain? no one is Good Enough, even when they are good. Bigoted celestial who hunts Tieflings - because they are tieflings so that he can prevent the further spread of the fiendish contagion (genuinely sorry about what they do to good tieflings, but for the greater good they just can't be allowed the possibility of reproducing. . .)

Only problem with that is that the Angel would probably cease to be good (or at least you'd end up having that argument in my group). Even if angels were doing the whole "strike down the firstborn" thing as divine punishment to an evil nation, I would expect most good parties to be concerned about evacuating the few righteous souls (or splattering blood on the door, however it goes). In any event, my group uses celestials (other than celestial monkeys as trap "finders") so infrequently that using regular celestials would be more than sufficiently exotic. I'd value an article providing advice on uses of celestials in a non-evil campaign beyond monster summoning more than a list of new celestials or details about the upper planes (while the weather is no doubt nicer, the average party of adventurers has less reason to go there than to the lower planes).

Possibly just a matter of perception and play style, but I would view a book of the sort Mr. Jacobs describes as a player suppliment, and consider the Books of the Damned to be DM suppliments.

While I can see the use of a book on Inevitables and/or Proteans, I have no idea what I'd even do with a book on celestials.

The title more or less says it all, but here goes: now that Demons, Devils, and Daemons have had their day, is there any chance that more exotic fiends could get a bit of detail work? Obviously what gets made depends on a combination of what the creative staff are interested in and what is considered to be potentially marketable. With the Dragon Empires gazetteer etc. out, and Jade Regent done, an Oni book might have some selling power and people might actually see an Oni outside of Jade Regent if a bit more was known about them (we have 30 odd years of lore about demons and devils, even if some of the details have changed). Rakshasa are even worse off - there is no Vudra AP (or even module, or is there?) though having read a few books setting the legend of Rama to the modern style of epic fantasy, I would actually be interested. Either Oni or Rakshasa would have been more interesting to me than Daemons (this is obviously a matter of taste, however). So, would anyone buy such a suppliment if it was written?

It seems likely that my group will be playing Jade Regent in a few months, and if it comes down to drawing straws over who has to be the healer (yes that's our attitude towards it), I was thinking of being Ameiko's younger sister, an oracle of Shizuru. Neither the Primer nor Gazetteer suggest mysteries for the asian deities. Flame, Heavens and Ancestor all seem potentially appropriate (Sarenrae, also a sun goddess, has flame, ancestor is part of the portfolio, and heavens...well, the sun is in them, right?). With luck I'll even be able to beg teh DM to allow me to take EWP katana at first level (favored weapon of the deity after all) even though it requires bab+1.

Getting closer to running Carrion Crown, and thought some music would be in order.

This thread http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz3qrp&page=1?Carrion-Crown-Soundtrack goes a bit more in detail than I intend to though.

I've selected the following characters/scenes that seem to need a theme. Suggestions sought:

Funeral of Professor Lorrimor - the music from the Halo ODST commercials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7MJISCA2A&feature=related
or Song of the Volga Boatmen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55KNMMGcLaw

The Skipping Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLwW745WJ2Y the Freddy Krueger counting song in German

Stirges in Ravengro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSoITBvyC48

Fire in the Town Hall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYPFwEbC91k

First view of Harrowstone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekLuKK7e9kQ

Vesorianna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIBdpFJyFkc&ob=av2n or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04_rDXjQuoQ&feature=related

The Illmarsh Piper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIHbAyBhWqc Not really satisfied with this but can't find better - evil and/or ghostly flute music is kind of hard to search for

Father Charlatan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJGIJn24Nrk&feature=related OK, probably not...Gregorian chants were my only other thought, but they don't seem quite right either

The Mosswater Marauder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpCV2wgoxC8 Ok, no, but
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4_zaZ3utUY it's even about dwarves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L07Ur1M9PRY&feature=fvst Everything sounds twice as evil in German! Other suggestions?

The Splatter Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08hwxkEQiCQ Not sure here, the words are actually shockingly appropriate, but the music itself doesn't

Actually in the trial of Joan of Arc, there were originally over 10 charges but the judge decided to dismiss most of them because he felt they distracted from the seriousness of the heresy charge. Alternately since it's basically open and shut, the trial for the university break in could already be done - the sentence can be banishment (so he's someone else's problem).

Mahavira wrote:

Seems to me that the Count Galdana idea requires that either she is adopted ** spoiler omitted ** or Dr. L has a more interesting family tree than we are led to believe. The adoption angle might be good just because we know nothing about Mrs. L, if in fact there ever was one.

I love that idea and will use it in my campaign. Probably with a last message that the PC's will get from professor Lorrimor. I'll have to see how I tie that in.

As an earlier clue, you might have Kendra tag along to see Justice Diarmid (wanting to meet one of her father's correspondents) briefly look stricken, shakily remark that she is a spitting image of her mother, before recovering and dealing with the PCs. In Ashes at Dawn, Kendra could complicate matters for the PCs by leading a squad of (whispering way) vampire hunters against the vamps the PCs are forced to collaborate with. Temporarily working with vampires to face a common threat is one thing, but will they fight an old friend for them?