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>So why does hold person/monster have an extra caveat about taking no actions. Because at the time the spell was written it was likely loosely worded and no one considered the possibility of mental only actions at the time. You could literally use this argument about the word paralysis in the spell.You are also not accounting for the use of the word "held" in the Helpless condition.
Than why don't they do the same thing, if they are the same? Paralysis: but can take purely mental actions. Hold Person:It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions
I know that grapple doesn't make you helpless, I actually used that fact to support my interpretation of Hold Person because "Helpless" specifically mentions being "held". I know of nothing that would qualify as holding somebody which isn't grapple, except Hold Person. I think that the word paralysis is used in the Hold Person spell to describe the effect of the spell, but doesn't actually apply the condition.
The spell "Hold Person" has in it's description:
and in it's text:
There are 2 conditions, one specifically for paralyzed and the "Helpless" condition which mentions the word "held" amongst others.
Looking at an Ancient White Dragon who is not immune against mind effects, but paralysis.
My question is, does Hold Monster effect this dragon? In my opinion, it should. The helpless condition specifically refers to being "held", but holding a Monster/Person is usually resolved with the grapple condition, so to what else would it refer? Usually (for example Stinking Cloud) spells do have relevant information right at the top. For example Stinking Cloud is noted as being "poison", which means all Monster that are immune against poison aren't effected. The dragon is also specifically immune against Sleep. On the other hand in the special abilities section under paralysis it says "Some monsters and spells have the supernatural or spell-like ability to paralyze their victims, immobilizing them through magical means." Which has me second guessing myself. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/special-abilities#TOC-Paralysis
After letting the topic sit with me for a while and considering the arguments for and against certain buffs I've come to the conclusion that you guys are largely right. The price for "continuous" effects on items is just too low. Combined with the ability to stick any spell on any item slot characters just get too strong for too little money, I honestly think the SpellLvl * CasterLvl * 2000 formula is broken and completely useless in it's combination with the duration modifier. It would be great if we got more realistic outlines usable by the players. I will stick to creating command word items that need to be activated with a standard action, I think that should balance out the "powerful" effects and the relatively cheap way of getting those effects. The need for strong defensive items mainly comes from the fact that monks seem to be s~@+ty front liners, but that's exactly what our group got and I'm trying to make it work. I would stick to pre-generated items but unfortunately paizo has not blessed us with enough variate for my taste ^^ Thanks for all the input, I think I'll be able to now present my GM with items that are not game breaking, but still fulfill our needs. Personally I'll be using the formula: SpellLevel * CasterLevel * 2000 = EndPrice for all my creations and depending on how strong the effect is we will decide how many activations it should have per day. Magic missles is freaking weak with a CL of 1 for example and could probably have 10 activations per day, while something like mirror images is much stronger and could be limited to 3 for example.
That's very helpful, thank you Diego. I think I'm going to move away from "constant" effects and move towards "command word" effects. Am I correct in my believe that "command word" refers to a standard action? It think that will solve many balance issues if I simply go SpellLevel * Caster Level * 1800 and let the GM decide how many times a day the effect can be activated. Making a simple ring of Shielding constant is completely unattractive the way you describe it, especially since it doesn't even give the ability to tag on armor enchantments. I hope you see how crazy it is to pay 40k for an item that gives +4AC and an incredibly unimportant side bonus compared to getting a flat 50% dodge chance from an item that costs 10.8k. >The bracers do not do a lot more than just add +4 Armour. How about the ability to get +1 Bracers for 500 and tag on good armour enchantments? Yes, that's doing a lot more. What is really powerful? The effect of a level 1 spell that holds a damn day and can be replenished with a 500GP item without expanding resources? Holy moly you are right, better nerf mage armor @_@
The POINT of getting crafting feats is to either make stuff which is not available because the GM decided that there is no magic shop (which is a problem we don't have in our game) or to make stuff you can't buy.
He is going to adjust our wealth depending on what items I craft. (saving 5 k on that 10k item? okay next loot is gonna have 5k less gold in it)
What? That's the first I heard of an "order" and I can't find something in the rules or in this forum about it. Could you please link to it next time? Besides, the item itself doesn't grant +AC, it grants a spell which grants +AC. But instead of me casting Mage Armor (level 1 spell) I craft an item which gives the same effect. I could also achieve this with a Pearl of Power at the cost of 500GP without taking up an item slot...I really don't see why you guys are so freaked out about a +4 to AC.
I am a player. Well, bracers actually do a lot more than just adding +4 armor, so you either give the ring all those additional powers or it has to cost less. I've talked with my GM about taking the crafting feats and making magic items for the group, but I haven't talked about the specifics with him yet. We have a meele monk in our group has been promoted to be the new main front liner after our barbarian left the group. So I'm mainly trying to think of ways to make him stronger on the defensive side of things.
After looking at the table (http://paizo.com/prd/magicItems/magicItemCreation.html) It appears that some effects can be accomplished rather cheap. For example, a Ring of Shield only costs 4000 to make. (SpellLvl * CasterLvl * 2000 * 2) a Ring of Mage Armor only costs 2000 (SpellLvl * CasterLvl * 2000) So, after halfing the prize on these items because I would be crafting them they only cost me 3000 Gold for a combined +8 AC. Of course Mage Armor doesn't stack with regular Armor and Shield doesn't stack with a regular Shield but almost nobody wears Shields and there is a good amount of classes that could still benefit from Mage Armor. I think +AC isn't that big of an issue especially since later on it becomes rather unimportant. But what strikes me as a tad bit op is for example a Ring of Mirror Images. 2 * 3 * 2000 * 2 = 24000 So for the crafting cost of 12000 one basically gets a permanent 50% miss chance. First of all, am I reading the rules correctly? Is this RAW? Also, do any of you have experience with crafting and the long term effects it has on a game? Will I break the balance while using this, or does it just appear op and is fine in the long run?
Pin =//= having your hands bound
(casting dimension door only has a vocal component)... gm responds.... rocks fall, you die.A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grapple =//= having your hands bound
Classic case of GM vs PCs You did something smart, how DARE YOU!
So simple, yet so perfect. No need for a huge look up table, just get to the goal somehow, create a 0 and multiply the leftovers by it. Done. A lot shorter than a full round attack.
Yes......that's good. So you first calculate which combinations CAN give you the correct answer and after you are done with that you build a list which you than compare to your rolled results. At that point it's just a question of optimizing the search algorithm which the Internet should be full off. Finding out what number of dice is best for a particular number should be easy enough, just numOfWrongResults - numOfCorrectResults, the lower the number the better. Creation that list thou...hmmmm. I can't think of any smart way to do it so I'd probably brute force it. Just create an table of all the possible combinations of the numbers and let every single one run against every single combination of +-*/. Note how often you are correct and if correct save that line to an array, move how often you are wrong and discard it. I don't have the time right now since I should be cleaning up my place, but if I'm motivated I'm gonna build it after my visitors are gone.
So, correct me if I'm wrong but: with 3 dice (taking the feat at level 3 having 3 ranks in the skill) every single roll can be arranged in 96 different ways.
That doesn't sound too bad... With 7 dice, the number of possible combinations is now 20,643,840. Yeah....I guess without some good logic built in to it you would have to wait a bit for your desired result.(all thou technically you could cut away from that number because it doesn't matter how you arrange the dice if you only multiply or add and only subtractions are pointless as well)
>Then again, if it didn't give you the metamagic feats, people would be shouting it's a pathetic feat... lol. No, it would still be insane. You can quicken every 5 level and below spell every turn basically doubling your spell output for the cost of a few engineering skill ranks. If this feat read "attach quicken to a spell (if you have it), do some math with engineering, if you succeed you cast the spell for it's original spell rank" it would still be incredibly powerful.
This feat is completely crazy. He either does something completely broken (like a quickened, empowered fireball, plus empowered fireball every turn) or nothing because he can't find the solution. Either way the game grinds to a halt until he finds the solution (or doesn't). All we need now is a math tool, you enter your individual numbers and the tool gives you the answer (if there is any) a split second later. You think casters are OP now? Think again. 1 Feat gives you: 2 free meta magic feats + the ability to cast spells with any meta magic feats attached without having to increase the spell slot expanded.
Int vs Wis is an interesting topic, at least for me. It's hard to nail the details down but I think that Int = I know how to solve this problem. Wis = I know why to solve this problem a certain way. That said, using a spell comes natural to a Sorcerer, and figuring out that you need a key for a cell isn't that hard. But if he starts coming up with complex battle plans, complex solutions and thinking quick on his feet etc. than we enter the "I neglect my stats " territory, because he simply RPGs over his dump stat. I have no problem with dump stats, but one should respect them. It's easier with STR etc. you can't RPG over low STR, but that's the challenge he accepted the moment he dumped Int.
This is so extremely off topic, but I'm annoyed with the people that try to make planar binding useless by coming up with almost unworkable and extremely inconstant scenarios, just so they can stick it to that dirty dirty mage.
Secane, don't you guys have a scout? A stealthy char or a mage that can summon a scout? The min/level spells are best used before the actually combat breaks out because they have such a long in-game duration. I mean 1 minute has 10 turns, so you should have plenty of time to make use of it and confirming every crit is amazing.
Ally: Do you count as your own ally? You count as your own ally unless otherwise stated or if doing so would make no sense or be impossible. Thus, "your allies" almost always means the same as "you and your allies." http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9nda
Woops, didn't realize Bless Weapon doesn't stack with Keen. Guess on a Paladin the feat would be better.
Keen You buy it with money. You are not really limited with how much money you can have (well there is a "soft" cap dictated by your campain). You are very limited with how many feats you can have. Money is always easier earned than additional feat slots.
No he can't use the Perform skill, it's a Charisma based skill.
If I were a PC in your game (or a game which uses this logic) I'd go berserk. First I'd try to argue OOC, not only with the supply and demand argument but also that the game is balanced around the prices advertized in the rule books. If that doesn't work my character would take things in his own hands, that greedy merchant thinks he can f#&* me over? Think again. Derailment incoming.
LOL @ Fake Healer "you evil min maxer you!", burned Why don't you just have the crab sit on your back :P Wear a cloak and let the crab sit in the cap, done.
Sorcerer - Fey Bloodline with CHA +4 you get a DC of 16 on DAZE thanks to the +2 on compulsion spells. Alternatively you could go Witch, Evil Eye, Misfortune and Crackle, it's still gonna rock even in a small group. You could also look in to "Word Casting".
>The problem isn't so much focusing your character in specific areas as doing it to the point of making yourself WORSE in other areas You can not be serious, can you? Of COURSE a Wizard is gonna be WROSE at fighting enemy's up front, it's what he CHOOSE to do. Are people gonna demand equality of magic and BAB next? Our strength and weaknesses define us. >The first part is illogical. Would you damage your own body, your own health, in order to make yourself better at what you do? No, but I'm not training it either. People seem to forget that 10 is the average. Having a 8 in STR doesn't mean I'm a f+*!ing cripple. >They're rendering themselves deficient to the point of handicap, to make themselves better in one area. I'm just completely speechless. I guess you are a person who does everything equally. You are not specialized in any area what so ever. I guess if you where a Barbarian you would sit down and study, and work on your social skills, just as much as you would on your combat prowess. Makes absolutely no sense to me. €: just want to add on that while 10 is the average, the stat array for a normal NPC is 8,9,10,11,12,13 So the average person in pathfinder has 1 or 2 abilities at -1.
I don't understand everyones problem with "dump" stats. Why do all characters have to be good at everything? Isn't it natural that strength and weaknesses alter from person to person what ever that persons goal is? A warrior who focuses on fighting has not much use for charisma, he isn't trying to charm anyone. Same with a Wizard who doesn't care that he's physically weak, because he is strong in his mind. Rolling stats can lead to some people having crazy high luck, or really bad rolls. Point buy ensures that everyone has a equal stat array, people can build what ever they want in a way that makes it effective. I also don't understand the dislike for min/maxing. having characters that are good at what ever they want to be good at just ensures less PK and more fun all around.
Snap Shot and Improved snap shot is what you are looking for
So your party is basically missing a dedicated buffer/debuffer&cc caster and a face? Sorcerer, done.
>f I want role-play a paladin how I want, I would also have to enforce my view of right and wrong on the GM. Can you give an example?
Paladin works out of the box perfectly, unless your GM isn't playing Pathfinder. (by which I mean he isn't using the rules as written in the class) If you use the rules as they are you will never fall because your GM is a dick, but because you made a mistake. You can not force a Paladin to fall, a Paladin can work perfectly fine with a group that has some morally gray characters in it.
A Paladin can also easily work with a Poisen user and a Lier and so on, it's in the code. >a paladin avoids working with evil characters or with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. _Avoids_ and not "is required to avoid". The next sentence gives back up >Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil. So the Alchemist is throwing around poison and the Sorcerer is bluffing a lot? The Paladin sure as heaven doesn't like it, but he can see past these moral problems because the good they do together far outweighs the evil.
Roll Diplomacy "What is it that you wish to gain from this scenario? Do you wish to go free? Give me the civilians and I promise you may leave without harm. Do you wish to call this palce your home? Give me the civilians and I promise to leave it to you." A Paladin would simply not accept that choice. A smart Paladin would engage in to a dialog. "No, I will not leave these people at your mercy. Where I to turn around and leave, who would guarantee those peoples safety?" If at any point of the dialog the Orc attacks, the whole thing becomes quite easy. "I will not promise any such thing, but I will leave now and spare your life if you spare them!" You can not trap a smart Paladin.
What you don't seem to grasp Ashiel is that a Paladin is obliged to do good, not to take the most effective way to do good. Your scenarios all hinge on that distinction.
>I've said nothing of the kind. Sorry, must have been somebody else :) I guess you need to split the spell up in at least 2 versions, one for single tasks and one for long term services. Simply so you can properly balance every version. It's too late for me to invest much brain power in to this, but what you'd have to do is keep the flavor, turn down the power, define the spells a lot better and do it all without sucking the fun out of it. After all we want to bind outsiders, demons, devils, angels, aliens, to our will. We want to force them to do our bidding. Just gotta do it in a way that doesn't break the game balance in half and turns the game table in to the argue zone. Pretty steep hill.
Oh boy, you haven't given this enough thought. Look at the definition of service: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/service With a definition like that, I can make almost everything sound like a service. The word "service" needs to be better defined in the context of this spell. The question is also how long can the "description" of this service be? Am I limited to "Walk from one side of the continent to the other." Single sentence single job, or can I add on to it? "Walk as fast as possible, on your feet, whole only sleeping 2 hours a day, without interacting with any other living creature from one end of the continent to the other." Same with open ended task. "Guard me for the next 5000 years." How do you like that? It's not open ended, it's got a set end. Some people argue "you can't make the task take longer than CL/day". While that is not supported any where in the spell, it opens up another problem. What if a single task you give the creature with a set end that it can cause. Something like "collect all the leafs from this forest in a huge pile". That's gonna take a long time if the forest is big enough, but it's still doable. It's not unreasonable, but one could argue it's unreasonable to grant a wish without payment. You also seem to think that wishing is easily countered because an efreet can twist it? Nope. Cast Geas on that sucker and force it to actually be nice. What I know is that you can argue till the cows come home what qualifies at a service and what doesn't, what open ended really means and what which creature would consider unreasonable. It's not fun for the players or the gm, there is no official word on this. Maybe the smart thing to do is to break the spell up in to 2 spells. One for short term single target services, one for long term multi target services which would be considerably harder to cast. I mean you have to realize that this spell is completely and utterly broken. Even if you put the strongest regulations imaginable on it (without actually changing the RAW but going with a very harsh RAI). A level 13 Sorcerer can force Glabrezus to simply raze the HQ of the BBE.
I think this discussion misses the mark a bit. The problem with planar binding is the wording in the spell, not the stuff around it. It has great flavor, great amount of additional resources, it requires preparation, it's a multi step process and has a big risk attached to it. You can attempt to compel the creature to perform a service by describing the service and perhaps offering some sort of reward. The word "service" is not defined. demands or unreasonable commands are never agreed to. Again, "Impossible demands" and "unreasonable commands" are not defined anywhere. If you assign some open-ended task that the creature cannot complete through its own actions, the spell remains in effect for a maximum of 1 day per caster level What is a "open-ended task" specifically? If those portions where better defined and explained, perhaps with a few examples, than the spell would become instantly usable without creating a s*@+ ton of discussions. You could fix a bunch of loopholes (infinite wishes) by simply declaring those instances examples of "unreasonable commands" and be done with it.
You told us what you got, but I'm more interested in what you want. Is there a certain flavor you want him to have? A specific weapon he should be using? Certain skills maxed out? Or do you just want a min/maxed paladin with no limitations what so ever? Also,m what point buy are you using or are these stats as is and can be moved around? Any restrictions on resources?
I can't add anything of use, but I gotta say this sounds amazing, good job.
I think it would be a lot easier to help you if we knew exactly what you want to achieve with the monk, where you want to focus your gameplay etc.
Have you given Zen Archer any thoughts, or are you set on entering melee combat?
You will cry tears once you start fighting monsters that have more than +5 to hit. The problem with a meele monk is the d8 hit dice, you need con or 1-2 hits of a bad guy will push you out of the fight which isn't gonna be a big problem early levels, but once you go past 7 it's gonna be a big pain in your ass.
What do you mean? At what level would you take improved initiative? Also, think about instead of starting with a Great Sword to start with a reach weapon (like the Glaive 1d10). Pure dmg wise the Great Sword is better with 2d6 but the Glaive has reach, and since on low levels you will probably fight against enemies that need to be directly in front of you , you could get a AoO every time they close in without using a 5' step. The weak point is that you need a square between yourself and your target to attack it with a reach weapon, but you can simply take a 5' step to achieve that. I think the amount of easy AoO you could get with this will be wroth it.
Improved Critical has Prerequisite: Proficient with weapon, base attack bonus +8. So unless you intent to cheat, or your GM allows it you are stuck with Power Attack. You could Simply start with a Great Sword and instead of picking Weapon Focus go with Furious or Cleave (which if you have 2 enemies in front of you, which happens a lot at low levels) allows you to double the amount of attacks you can do per turn at full BAB (-2 AC is worth it). If you can't retrain go Furious level 3 and pick up a Falchion +1 (at least) shortly before you hit level 9. You could also if you have the money (about 8k) get a Keen Falchion +1 before you hit level 9 and get the big crit range without investing a feat.
Sorcerer, focused on conjuration You can be the face quite easy, you can summon additional tanks, you can cast a wide array of CC spells. perfect fit for your party
I just calculate with 20 hits hitting every number once, every hit is a success every crit is confirmed.
AverageWeaponDmg
STR Bonus 4(which is +6 DMG with 2H)
PowerAttack 6
and so on. The larger the bonus (looking at smite) the larger the difference between a Falchion and a GreatSword.
Double means you take the dice rolls that you can crite on 18-19-20 (3 dice rolls) and double them 15-16-17 ( 3 dice rolls) Falchion is because of the 18-20 way better than any other 2H weapon if you plan on taking the critical feats or if you plan on enchanting keen on it.
I can see Ultimate Mercy only if you got nobody else who can do that job in the group, else the opportunity cost would just be too big.
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I'd like to cancel my Pathfinder subscription for now please. Thank you very much!
My mail person left one of my recent deliveries on the front porch. Usually this isn't an issue but unfortunately it rained the majority of the day. When I arrived at home after work I found the issue was totally soaked. Could you send me a replacement please? If it could be sent along with my next issue that would be great. The issue is Hell's Rebels #2, Turn of the Torrent. Please feel free to add the fee to my credit card on file. Thank you!
I am going to DnD Experience at the end of the month and I'm looking for an adventure to run. The last campaign I ran ended about 6 months ago and I ran STAP from beginning to end (with some stuff added in). I want to stay under level 8-9 so with those parameters which adventure would you choose to run from the STAP? I am leaning towards Sea Wyvern's Wake but wanted to get some ideas from the boards. I figured why prep another adventure when I got the whole adventure path pratically memorized?
I would like to cancel my subscription after issue #13 (which I just received). Since my group plays 4e I really don't need any further 3.5 products. I wish you guys the best of luck and hopefully a revised GSL will get you making products for the new edition. Thanks.
I would like to cancel my Pathfinder subscription after receiving issue # 12. If I have any remaining credit from my Dungeon/ Dragon subscriptions please let me know. There are a few things I'd like to pick up at the Paizo store. I hope things get worked out so you guys can start publishing some 4e stuff. I don't care if it's called Pathfinder, Streetfinder, or whatever. I just want to see some 4e Paizo material! Good luck with whatever path you guys (and gals) take.
I want to order something from the online store. I currently have credit for a Dungeon subscription that was converted to Pathfinder. When I go to place the order the ongoing subscription is in my cart with a charge (which I thought I should be good through issue #13 of Pathfinder). What happens when I pay for the order? Do I pay for a monthly installment at the same time?
Has anyone finished the final installment? If so would you have any suggestions other than running it as written. I do plan to decrease Demogorgon's power as the rounds progress, I thought that was a good idea. My group is pretty strong and may be level 22 by the time they face him. Does anyone know of anything that would suppress magic but not supernatural abilities? I'd like to add that wrinkle for the first round or two since I think the party wizard will dispel the effect. I don't want the ending to be a let down so any thoughts would be appreciated.
I know we aren't going to get the supplements for the last few issues. I can scan in the maps easily enough but what I can't do is remove the tags (I think that's what they are called). I am entering the Prince of Demons next week. I'd love to be able to use the maps in the final issue on my projector without the locations of blast disks, demons, and such given away for the players to see. Can anyone suggest how I can make this happen? I don't have access to Photoshop and wouldn't know how to go about it if I did. Any suggestions would be appreicated.
There has been alot of debate recently on Pathfinder using the upcoming 4e rules or sticking with the 3.5 rules. Would it be possible to use both? If Paizo decides to make the switch to 4e how difficult would it be to publish a supplement that contained everything you needed to run the path using 3.5? I know the encounter format will be changed quite a bit but if this could happen I'd think it would be a win/win situation for Paizo and their customers. Once the ball is rolling a bit then you could truly see how much support there would be for 3.5 (or 4e if the situation was reversed) and make the call on which edition to use for future products. Thinking out loud here I suppose the thing to do would continue with 3.5 and make the supplement for the 4e rules. If you sell a ton of supplements then make the switch. Though I suppose the fault with either plan is people will have to buy Pathfinder to use the supplement so you'd only know who was interested in the supplement's information. If you sold a ton of supplements it'd be easy to figure out but at what point would you know for sure? Maybe all this speculation is for nothing- it could cost far too much to implement the idea. I've never owned an RPG company myself (or any other company for that matter) so I have no clue. Just wanting the best of both worlds is all!
My party just faced Lillianth and crew last session. Lynnara gets into the act in round 5 and decides the PCs are on the losing end. She uses mass suggestions and asks "for some big strong lads to join her for a nice warm bath". Two characters fail and jump into the lava on their next action. I know the rules say attended magic items do not need to make saving throws- but the PCs take 20d6 damage with no save! It seems to me those items should make saving throws, if not get destroyed outright from lava damage. Opinions?
I know the online supplements have been put on the back burner. I really want a PDF version of the maps for each issue because I use them in my campaign to display the battlemap on a projector. Since it didn't look like they would be up in time I decided to purchase the PDF versions of the issues I need so I'd be set. Unfortunately when I tried to make the purchase they were not available past the first STAP issue. I don't suppose there is a chance the PDFs for the magazines will be done anytime soon is there? I'll scan them if needed but I just don't think the maps will turn out as well. Hopefully either one (supplements or full PDFs) will be doen soon!
My group is currently in the City of Broken Idols and we are really enjoying the campaign so far. Having said that I am a bit leary of a couple of the last adventures, particularly Wells of Darkness (I am thinking of skipping) and Enemies of my Enemy (I am still on the fence about how to handle this one). I do like Serpents of Scuttlecove and Into the Maw though, I think they will be a big hit with my players. From what I remember of the last adventure we'll enjoy that one as well. I remember an adventure called the Bastion of Broken Souls that I wanted to use in another campaign but never got to that level (18th) in order to use it. It involves Demogorgon though the party never faces him directly. The basic plot IIRC involves an ancient red dragon named Ashardalon that has a partially demonic heart somehow loyal to Demogorgon and slaying this dragon will give one of Demogorgon's head a chance to slay the other. I'm wondering if this plot can somehow be molded to be included in STAP? There is a church involved called the Church of the Elements that seems like an easy swap for the Church of the Whirling Fury. I know the final encounter takes place at (or in) the Bastion of Unborn Souls in combat with the dragon. I don't recall alot of the remainder of the adventure but I plan to brush up on it over the next couple of days. Once I do that I'll post some more thoughts. If anyone is familiar with the adventure I'd welcome any thoughts on the subject.
After being trapped by the sargasso the party barbarian drinks a potion of water breathing, asks the wizard to cast fly on him, and then takes off on his own to scout the area. He spends the rest of the day scouting and decides to hole up for the night by himself. At sundown the vine horrors start showing up and combat begins. This PC is optimized well and uses a spiked chain so he has reach. I think he figured he'd get AoOs on the creatures when they advanced and then finish them off with his full attack. The barbarian delays so the vine horrors animate assassin vines who attack and grapple the barbarian immediately. The barbarian eventually escapes the grapple and defeats the creatures but only has 4 or 5 hit points remaining. He sees more vine horrors approaching so he decides to clear the vines from the bottom of the mast (thinking he'll eliminate the assassin vine threat) and then climb the mast. I decide to let him spot a rowboat on the deck of the boat under some seaweed and vines. He takes the gift and drags the rowboat out and starts dragging it towards the nearest water area. He makes it to water and starts moving out away from the sargasso. A few vine horrors swim out to his boat but he handles them easily (grappling was giving him the issue earlier). He know sits in a rowboat in the middle of the water with 1 hit point remaining afraid to go to sleep. Obviously he's dead meat if I choose since the vine horrors are intelligent and have a swim speed. I think the party is assuming the vine horrors can't sense you if you aren't standing on the sargasso so he thinks he may make it. If he doesn't rest I think he takes subdual damage the following morning which knocks him out cold. Plainly he's screwed without some intervention on my part. So what does everyone think, do I let him die?
Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep Rowyn alive in the first adventure. I didn't want to drop the stowaway plotline in Sea Wyvern's Wake so I substituted Diamondback instead. So far she has cut the rigging for the chair between the ships on day 2 after the dinner and sabotaged some of the mast's support so it would fall on a PC. I know I need to change Diamondback a bit to include invisibility in her abilities (or give her some potions). I was thinking about assassin levels or possibly having a wand activated by use magic device. What do you think the best choice would be?
We are going to be starting this portion of the AP next session. We use a message board to handle things like buying items, talking battle tactics, etc so it gives us more time to game when we meet. I usually give the players a preview of what’s coming next week so they realize the long sea journey ahead of them. They are posting on the boards how to handle getting a crew, arming the ship, cargo, etc. One of the players suggests asking Lavinia for a 3-month advance in pay to help them prepare for the voyage. Not a bad idea and I have no problems with the request. Then another player throws this statement out to the group- “We need to figure out what to charge Lady Vanderboren for the use of our boat during the voyage” I didn’t say anything since it wasn’t directed to me but inside I’m thinking “What!?!?” How do you think I should handle the request if they decide to ask her? Maybe I should just use Avner to finance the use of their boat since he is a “primary” financial backer of the expedition. Similar to what was suggested in another thread already except the PCs would be choosing to take his gold (and thereby, work for him). Lavinia could just inform the PCs her finances are tapped so she’ll inquire with some of her acquaintances and see what she can do for them. I was not expecting them to charge Lavinia for the use of their boat. They seemed to take to her really well so far so that statement took me back a bit. No one really replied so maybe the matter will not come up again but if it does how do you think I should handle it?
Are there stats for the Blue Nixie in any of the adventures? I built the Maiden of the High Seas for this campaign which is about the size of the Blue Nixie and I'd like to use it. According to the adventure Lavinia is looking for "another" caravel class ship (securing a vessel, page 20) which seems to indicate the Nixie is a caravel as well, just a larger one than the Sea Wyvern. According to Stormwrack a caravel carries a compliment of 30 and a requires a minimum watch of 7. It seems like the 30 number is a bit low for a ship the size of the Blue Nixie. I'll have to sit down and work on the numbers tomorrow evening. If anyone has any input I'd be glad to hear it.
According to the transition page my remaining subscription (IIRC 24 issues of Dragon and 28 issues of Dungeon though I may have them reversed) gets me 13 issues of Pathfinder (or so I thought). When I check my subscription page now it states 13 issues of Pathfinder, 28 isues of Dragon, and 19 issues of Dungeon. I am confused. What exactly do I have if I convert everything I have to Pathfinder? Is it the 13 issues or more than that?
My party just finished There Is No Honor last session and it went really well. They even paused to speak with Rowyn but decided to remain loyal to Lavinia in the end. Unfortunately they managed to kill Rowyn before she could get away in gaseous form which kind of stinks but that’s the breaks I suppose. After the session they were discussing their next move and one of them says this: “Hey, why don’t we just take over this taxidermist’s hall since he isn’t coming back? Heck, why not use the Lotus Dragon’s hideout too?” The party had captured Nemien and he gave up the location of the guild and told the party he just wanted to leave town in one piece. How would the people of Sasserine react if the players tried to do this? I assume his place would be taken over by the city and auctioned off but I am open to suggestions. Do I need to be concerned about substituting someone for Rowyn later on or just leave those encounters out? I really like the encounters she provides in Sea Wyvern’s Wake but I wonder if it’s too cheesy to use another NPC (possibly trying to get revenge for Rowyn’s death) in her place? The party plans to give Lavinia back her 8600 gp and I’d like to reward the group accordingly. I think they each have somewhere around 2500- 3000 gp after raiding the guildhall. I like the idea of having a private banquet for the PCs where she has gifts for them (and perhaps some noble clothing for them as well- for the Dawn Council banquet). I was thinking of giving the fighters a +1 weapon each, the sorcerer a wand of magic missiles (3rd caster level), the rogue a Heward’s Handy Haversack, and the NPC cleric a +1 mithral chain shirt. If I do this I would not give them the 1000 gp bonus mentioned at the end of the adventure. Either that or give them the gold and reduce the values of the gift (items) reward accordingly. Anyone have any thoughts? My group has taken to Lavinia rather well though no one has expressed an interest in her romantically yet. They mentioned several times when talking to Rowyn how she gives them bonuses often and genuinely seem to enjoy working for her. One of the players insists she is protected at all times (bodyguard type) but unfortunately for him he is a half- orc with a 6 charisma. I guess we’ll have to see how things progress but so far the campaign is going well.
I have purchased and built the Maiden from World Works Games. I planned to use it as the Blue Nixie in the first adventure but I'd like to use it as the Sea Wyvern as well. Is it too much of a stretch to use it for both?
This class is from the Complete Adventurer. One of the players is playing a character that is an information broker that eventually wants to become a spymaster. He has stated he will be constantly keeping things from the group but will care for his friends. In the beginning of the campaign I was going to have him sent to get information on another party member. This other party member is going to become a jade phoenix mage, a class that doesn't realize all of his abilities until he is shown his past lives by another jade phoenix mage. Once this happens, which will be around level 8 or 9, then I'll need to come up with something else. So what is the general consensus concerning the PrC? It seems like an NPC class to me but I do want to player to play something he likes, I just don't want him wrecking the game. I have been thinking of ways to involve him in the campaign that would line up with the others in the party. We have 2 other PCs besides the ones above, a mage/ war weaver and a barbarian/ occult slayer. We will also have an NPC cloistered cleric/ sacred exorcist. Three members of this group (jade phoenix mage, occult slayer, and the sacred exorcist) will be involved with the Church of the Whirling Fury which will be great for the game from all I've read on the boards. I do plan to have the spymaster involved with the Kraken Society and I will reveal this to him later in the campaign. I thought about letting him know this from the beginning but I don't think the group operates that way (being so secretive themselves). I am hoping to get this worked out in the next few days so I can start the campaign rolling soon. So what does everyone think? Ditch the concept or keep the character? If you say to keep how would you suggest working the concept into the campaign?
Does anyone know of any resource where I can get the information in the Savage Tidings articles electronically? I have all of the magazines but the thought of my player's grubby little hands all over them is making me cringe. Is it fine to make copies to distribute to my local group? I can't help it I just like to take good care of my magazines!
I have a group of 4 that doesn't like to play clerics. This usually means we have an NPC cleric that mainly is used as a healer and buffer for the party. We do give the cleric full XP so it advances with the party and the NPC gets a share of treasure as well. What do you think about a cleric/ sacred exorcist NPC? The class seems to fit the campaign I am just worried about issues later when the whole "enemy of my enemy is my friend" dilemma comes up. The other 2 PrCs I am debating are the divine oracle (Complete Divine) and the windwalker (Faiths and Pantheons). I like the divine oracle better since it isn't as combat focused but the windwalker could be useful to the group with it's track and other outdoor related abilities. Of course the divine oracle could provide information as needed during the campaign. I am still trying to come up with a deity as well for a sacred exorcist character. I would use Savras or Shaundakul for the other 2 choices. Many decisions to make in the next few weeks. I am getting pumped to start the campaign!
I have been reading the conversion notes and I noticed that they state the "prominent role of the Church of Kord is replaced by the Church of Talona". The next sentence about the lesser faiths states that Tempus should be used for Kord. I wasn't real familiar with Talona so I looked her up in Faiths and Pantheons and she doesn't seem like a good fit for Kord at all. Is it me or does something seem wrong here? The other deity I have not heard of is Anachtyr, which appears to be a southern aspect of Tyr unless these are two different deities. If I am reading correctly the southern aspect of Tyr is not an additional deity just a description of Anachtyr. I get confused easily I guess. |
