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It's going to be building off of AGE, seems like. No word on a Pathfinder port, but anyone looking for more of an optimistic and idealistic take on fantasy gaming, or anyone that's just a fan of the romantic fantasy genre, might want to keep an eye out for this. Really excited about this news. :)
Just checking before dipping into it but: Are the drow involved in this AP more of the Always Chaotic Evil variety or is it open to the non-evil, non-hostile variety, through the adventure itself or support material? Just trying to get a handle on which direction it leans and how hard, basically. Thanks!
Without getting into the huge backstory: Half-orc raised as a child soldier for his Gorumite tribe until he ran away, wound up in Trunau, got taken in by a Shelynite couple, grew to adulthood alongside their aasimar son. Has suppressed memories of his childhood with his original tribe and the sister that helped him flee along with PTSD from the violence he experienced and took part in back then. Currently a Shelynite, though he's worried he's not a terribly good one as violence and anger come so easily to him, even if he tries to focus it towards positive ends such as taking up the art of the glaive and striving to join Trunau's guard. Has a chip on his shoulder a mile wide when it comes to bullies, and given the common enemies of the AP...it's probably fair to say Metal Gear Rising's song "Rules of Nature" and the related boss fights sum up a lot of his flavor. (maximum relevance at 3:06) So, CG/NG half-orc bloodrager with the celestial bloodline. Definitely going for the wings power later on alongside his adoptive brother's. Favors a speedy, mobile combat style when possible, not a mini-Hulk half-orc but rather nimble and lithe. Will run up the weapons of giant enemies if possible, hacking always at them all the while in a flashy sundering attempt. A couple of tricky spots though: when in close quarters combat and unable to gain space to use his glaive properly, his fighting style switches to planting the glaive and spinning about with secondary weaponry. Perhaps something like bladed boots or clawed gauntlets, something that lends itself to continued flowing motion. Does anyone have any particular equipment recommendations that could fit into that style? Also, any recommendations for things to invest in to make the "underdog who dismantles larger enemies" flavor shine? I know that bloodragers have some "get big" spell options, but I'm trying to avoid those on order to keep that underdog visual. That is, I want to run up an arrogant frost giant's sword, shredding it as I go, before taking his arm off. The GM yelling "RULES OF NATURE!!" as it happens is optional. But deeply appreciated.
Last night. Driving home through the dead of a cold winter's night under a full moon and everything is bright. The sky is crystal clear, blown clean after days of storm clouds and decorated with those stars bright enough to stand out with that intensely glowing moon. There's no one else on the road. There's a thick wall of trees on both sides. And the road just hit a straight stretch that goes on for miles. That full moon hangs perfectly over the center of the smooth, pale road ahead, casting everything from the street to the trees to the grass in shades of silver and shadow. For a while, the whole world seems ghostly and dreamlike. And Florence + The Machines' "Strangeness and Charm" just started in the playlist. I wish I had a longer drive home sometimes.
I wholeheartedly endorse Shinobi Clans. Once you pick up the rules it becomes a very fast-paced game of strategy and misdirection. Played it with sets of three and four players so far, and it moved quickly after the first few turns each time. That and the artwork is gorgeous. This game introduced me to NEN's artwork and in turn the artist herself the same day at Gencon. Great, great stuff. (also, a pretty good example of equality in fanservice too!)
Me: It's kind of frustrating though. There just aren't any options for "holy barbarian" types and we don't have those celestial totems yet. Jade Regent GM: What about taking Spirit Totems and having it deal holy damage instead of negative energy and flavoring the wisps specifically for your concept? Me: Dude. ************** Me: I was wondering, would the Redeemer archetype be available for tieflings here? Wrath of the Righteous GM: Absolutely! Wrath of the Righteous GM: It literally makes all of the sense for it to be. ************** Aasimar Paladin Player: Been looking at that aasimar wings feat... Tiefling Cleric Player: Ugh. Tiefling Cleric Player: Want. Tiefling Cleric Player: But cannot have. Aasimar Paladin Player: Yeah, it's pretty arbitrary. :( And it would be awesome if they could take it at the same time. Maybe there's another option that can be worked out like Eldritch Heritage or something. Wrath of the Righteous GM: Eh, let's just make it legal for both. It's simpler and there's no real reason for it not to be available to both races. Tiefling Cleric Player: :D ***************** Wrath of the Righteous GM: So this campaign is going to get crazy fast and I just remembered a spell both of you might want to look at. :) Bladed Dash. Aasimar Paladin Player: ? Me: OH GOD. The anime/videogame-style dash-and-slash move! Aasimar Paladin Player: Just looked it up. Wow, that's what it is. Me: With the afterimage and everything WotR GM: Yes. :) Me: I never realized how much I needed this before now. Aasimar Paladin Player: Wait, no go for us. It's only for bards and maguses. Magi. Me: dammat Aasimar Paladin Player: Mageese. WotR GM: Pff. It's a paladin spell now because it's awesome. WotR GM: I want to be able to see you guys doing intersecting charges with that thing. :) ************** Thank you GM's. :)
! Just saw this pointed out in another thread and double checked my copy of Inner Sea Gods and, wow, it's true: Torag's paladin code no longer calls for his followers to scatter families and non-combatants associated with those that take up arms against them. Whoever made this change: THANK YOU. That goes a long way towards making Torag easier to accept as good-aligned. :) Now my half-orc PC is going to have to be a bit less resentful of him...
Just now really getting to dig into the ACG. Came across Celestial Blood rage powers for barbarians. Gonna have to weigh the options between those and the Celestial Totems, though one could take all or some of both. Then came across Blessed Striker, and then realized it requires the ability to cast divine spells thus making it a no-go for single classed barbarians... ...and then looked over to the previous page to see Believer's Boon. My God. This is going to happen now. :D
So...we're getting six new iconics in Occult Adventures. Their races haven't been announced yet. We still don't have any non-core race iconics. We still have a need for sexy "bishounen" iconics to balance the fanservice scales. The iconics featured in Hell's Rebels have not been announced yet. Hell's Rebels is looking to be a very social-RP heavy AP. Hell's Rebel's is set in a one of the countries with the highest tiefling populations in Golarion. Just throwing that out there. :)
Refining this character before GenCon, just to make sure he lives up to flavor. :) He's a paladin of Lymnieris from Osirion and looks pretty much like one would expect of a worshipper of that Empyreal Lord from that particular region: Not weighed down or covered up by heavy armor, favoring silks over armor, highly social-oriented character, prefers a nimble fighting style over sword-and-shield bashing, possibly does still have a light shield to fulfill the protective elements of his worship and the image of putting himself between innocents and harm's way, not tied too tightly to his patron's favored weapon(possibly favoring the khopesh of his homeland or something more Weapon Finesse-friendly). Besides eyeing Ceremonial Silk Armor and dressing it up in Osirian aesthetics and possibly looking at how folks have approached making paladins of Shelyn, what would you recommend to make this guy keep up to par?
Having trouble linking exactly from work, but the Lawbound is one of the best examples of an "Angel of Law" I've ever seen. Love that design. :D This new artwork is looking very nice.
Thinking about ways to build this crew up, both to help folks that want them to be recurring characters and those looking for ways to sell players on not just killing them off. Hoping to have something to post in about two weeks. Currently on the plate are: Non-hostile roleplaying hooks for each member that can play out in Wati. Possible intra-group complications to play out within the necropolis Possible post-showdown developments for each member Possibilities for each member to serve as allies or rivals for the rest of the AP Romance options for each member (even Kelthru and Velriana) Member-specific adventure hooks for each member if allied Admittedly it's probably best to wait until all of Mummy's Mask is out, but since folks are already playing... :)
Ran into this situation way earlier than expected and we were wondering what the RAI for this was. Merciful Smite (Su): At 1st level, when a redeemer chooses to smite a creature, she can have all of her attacks against the target deal nonlethal damage. She does not take the normal –4 attack roll penalty for using a lethal weapon to deal nonlethal damage. She cannot use this ability to deal nonlethal damage to outsiders with the evil subtype, evil-aligned dragons, or undead creatures (these creatures take lethal damage from her smite). This otherwise works like and replaces the standard paladin's smite evil. So when Merciful Smite is used in its merciful form against a non-evil target(whether under the mistaken assumption that the target is evil or not), does it: A. Do lethal damage and not function with the smite bonuses B. Do non-lethal damage and not function with the smite bonuses C. Other If A, it leads to the odd situation of the divine gifts Redeemer paladins get actually making them worse at subduing non-evil beings than evil ones(which didn't make much sense to our group, hence the ruling for B). It should be further noted that Redeemer paladins also give up the Detect Evil class feature, so it makes the use of Merciful Smite even more of a gamble with the lives of others in some situations if it's intended to work like A. Which again seems at odds with what paladins(and especially redeemers) are about. Still, I can see a possible issue with it devaluing the Merciful weapon quality to a point, even if I'm still intending to get it(which in turn could be seen as devaluing Merciful Smites, but at least it can still work with any weapon).
If the reason planetouched PCs have to use the incorrect starting ages from the ARG is because it hasn't been fixed in errata, couldn't the Additional Resources section point tiefling and aasimar players towards the Blood of Angels/Blood of Fiends books instead, which IIRC refer to the correct maturity rates? Just wondering, as the age confusion has even started leaking outside PFS.
8 Arodus, 4714 It feels strange to be keeping a journal again. The events of the past few months are many and yet I have no idea where to begin in the telling. And in truth, after all the pain my previous writings brought about I do not feel entirely comfortable with this. Naella insists I pursue familiar routines but I have made mistakes. I have made terrible mistakes and those I love have paid for it. When we began our work in the Greenbelt, there was so much promise, so much hope ahead of us. And all too quickly things fell apart for us. Too many complications. There were too many complications blurring matters of right and wrong. That is why we are here now. My sister and I have always avoided this place. We have always tried to avoid even entertaining the idea of coming here. But both of us have long known that we could not stay away forever. This is where everything began for us. Where everything went wrong for our family. Truthfully, I dread what we may find. But we cannot continue as we are. We've so many demons haunting our past and know so little of the truth of it all that we had to come. Perhaps this is where we belong. Perhaps this is where we are truly needed. But knowing what this place has done to our family I pray we have made the right choice, Holy Iomedae willing. It is Starday. We've a bit less than a day before arriving at our destination, but that leaves us with one more night on the road. I am confident of our safety given our numbers and proximity to Kenabres, but I must admit that having old friends would put me more at ease. Night watch never seemed to be too difficult with Marek on t
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Liath's hand paused, the quill shaking slightly over the last few words. He had hoped putting his thoughts to page would help put them in order, but instead it dredged up unwelcome memories and wounds that were still fresh. He closed the almost entirely blank book and put it away. There's hardly enough time to continue before the caravan starts moving again anyway, he thought. He looked back down the road from the back of the wagon he and his sister were riding to Kenabres. Hronar was still further down the road with his children, Nica and Seamus, all of them finding some relief amongst the other families in the caravan while it was stopped to gather water and trade with the nearby Kellid village. Sioba waited patiently at the front of the wagon for her husband and sons, humming a pleasant tune to herself and the horses and doing her best to ignore her passenger. The young tiefling smiled softly, trying not to resent the treatment overly much. After all, she and her family were among the few who were willing to take them on. Hronar had outright refused at first, but Naella's assurances, their obvious faith in the Inheritor, and their skill as guards eventually swayed Sioba. And Hronar proved unwilling to challenge her decision. Of course, that didn't mean she felt entirely comfortable with them. "Brother." His head whipped around to Naella, returning from a few wagons ahead. She was akwardly carrying a stack of two grain sacks with some difficulty. The stack was working its way loose from her left hand. "Father Dieran wished these returned. He insisted Hronar and Sioba would need it more than..." Liath had immediately rushed in front of her, quickly taking the sacks from her hands. "I'm sorry, I should have gone with you." he stammered as he returned the offerings to the pilgrims' wagon. Naella let her hands fall to the side, her mask of calm belying her frustration. "Brother, we've talked about this." Liath did not turn to face her, keeping his attention to stowing away the grain. "I-I know. I'm sorry." He winced, realizing he had just done it again. Naella sighed, turning to face their destination. "We'll be in Kenabres tomorrow. And if we're to prove ourselves worthy of joining their number we must show that we can both hold our own. Try to remember." Her rebuke was firm, but gentle, so typical of her tone. Liath nodded, feeling like a child. "Yes, sister." He carefully measured his words, fighting his worrying instinct. He looked over his shoulder after finishing with the sacks to see Naella tranquilly staring into the distance. He joined her, his eyes slowly widening as he took in the view. "Goddess..." They could see Kenabres now, a tiny, gleaming speck on the horizon. A tiny glint of light framed by a low-hanging cloud of hazy darkness beyond. It was disconcerting to see such warped reality in the distance while natural blue skies remained overhead and green grass and brown earth underfoot. It was like looking through a crack in a wall into another world. Both felt a chill in their blood when the weight of it settled in. This was the Worldwound, their ultimate destination. Liath was lost in the enormity of it all when he felt Naella his hand with her right. They looked to one another, finally taking their eyes from that unholy blight. She asked, "This is what we agreed upon. Right?" Liath understood the nature of her question. One last chance to choose any other path than this. He hesitated only a moment, and only because he knew whatever his choice was, it would be hers as well. "Yes. This is where we belong." Both felt uncomfortable with it being phrased as such, even if the priests of their monastery told them as much two months ago. Naella truly wanted to believe the priests' claims of a divine mandate, but she could not help but suspect that the true reason for their proclamation was to rid themselves of the two siblings and the troubles that followed them. And even then, she found it hard to blame them. They glanced about at the rest of the caravan around them. Many others were just as entranced by the sight, but other drivers kept their gaze on Kenabres itself; a silver torch in the dark guiding their path and steeling their will. More and more wagons began to move once again, towards the final stretch of their journey. "Let's be off then!" called Hronar. He and the children had already rejoined Sioba on the wagon. He was looking everywhere but ahead, focusing on keeping their sons' attention likewise occupied. Sioba though...the Kellid woman kept her eyes locked on their destination and readied the reins. The tieflings shared an understanding nod as they hurried back. The wagon was already moving when they got there, no time to wait when all others before and behind were being pushed to hurry. Liath leapt up to the back and seated himself, reaching out to take Naella's hand. He silently cursed himself when he saw Naella's annoyance as she continued to hold out her right hand. He had reached for the wrong one again. He swiftly corrected himself and grasped her hand with his, pulling her aboard. "I'm so-" he started. "Liath!" Naella snapped at him, more harshly than she wished and immediately regretted it. Liath's face fell. The Kellid family fell into uncomfortable silence. She sighed, frustrated with herself now more than anything, and silently prayed that Iomedae would grant her more patience. She placed her arm around her crestfallen brother's narrow shoulders and softened her tone. "It's alright. Don't worry about it. We've plenty of more important matters for that. And we've Armasse ahead of us." She hoped that would liven his spirits. He had always cherished the celebration since their days at the monastery. Liath leaned into his twin's shoulder. "Do you think we will learn what happened to our great-grandfather?" His voice barely more than a whisper. Naella held her brother more tightly as the wagon continued down the bumpy road, suddenly feeling like they had been like before, a lifetime ago. "I don't know. Hopefully." She wasn't entirely certain she truly meant the last word. Liath's gaze remained on the blue skies behind them. "...do you think we'll make it through this?" It was obvious where his concern truly lay within that "we". Naella paused, at a loss for an answer that was honest and that she could bear to give her brother. She settled. "Iomedae willing." It would have to do. The wagons continued onward towards Kenabres; that distant beacon growing more bright as the skies darkened with the coming of night, drawing more and more souls to its fragile light.
So this might be a big thing in this AP, what with the recommendation in the PLayer's Guide to have one. Which possibilities are sticking out to you at the moment? The Wind Serpents - probably geared towards a local divine-heavy group The Dune Glassers - Foreign and probably disruptive group heavy on fiery evocations and bombs Band of the Scorpion - Teamwork-focused group with members embodying each of their namesake's attacks in combat
Wrath of the Righteous SPOILER:
Irabeth's father That is, what tribes and areas are most likely to produce orcs like that guy? And what sort of culture might they have? Asking both because it would really help people wanting to play orc PCs that don't feel like Drizzt "lone rebels against their kind" clones and people that want to play half-orcs with consensual human/orc parentage, both of whom would appreciate having some non-horrific culture to pull from. I was hoping Bastards of Golarion would have some support along those lines, but it was frustratingly quiet about those details in favor of pushing tragedy even as it hinted that better possibilities might actually exist. For example, the details on the rainkin half-orcs seems to strongly suggest that there are non-evil orc tribes in the Mwangi Expanse, but I worry that I might be reading too much into that. Likewise with the cragkin, who would be really nice to have work with consensual unions considering that the Shoanti culture fits half-orcs(and orcs) like a glove. But as is, while Bastards of Golarion seemed to hint at those possibilities, it did very little to offer solid details to work with to flesh out backgrounds and culture. We're told that Averaka is forming a distinct culture all it's own, but we know next to nothing about it. I was hoping that distinct culture might derive from orc progenitors on the island, but orcs aren't explicitly mentioned in Averaka's population, even when the regular meetings of that community to discuss their future is called Orcmoot. The book seemed to say in passing "sure you could have a child of consensual and loving orc/human pairing"* but offers little on the who's, where's, and how's of it. What tribe did XXXXXXX's father come from? What kind of culture did they have? How did they differ from the stereotypical CE orcs? Are there any orc tribes that could have peaceful contact with certain Shoanti quahs, to make that cragkin origin possible? Are the orc tribes in the Mwangi Expanse that are joining with those human tribes actually non-evil? What kind of culture would they have? How would it differ from their human counterparts? *Before anyone mentions the "characters with happy backgrounds aren't compelling" thing: Being the child of an actual loving union does not mean they and their children won't have to deal with discrimination and many other sorts of tragedy. edit-Geez, this sounds like I'm really down on Bastards of Golarion... To be honest, it really wasn't what I was hoping it would be. Still much better than Orcs of Golarion, but I can't help but feel like a lot of opportunities were missed because of the narrow "Bastards/tragedy" focus rather than a wider and more diverse exploration of half-elves/half-orcs, offering and supporting more possibilities rather than focusing on a few. edit2-Regarding XXXXXXX's father, I don't know anything solid about the guy other than that he's a full orc, a decent guy, and half of a genuinely loving couple that resulted in XXXXXXX's birth. I'm actually going to be playing in that Adventure Path, so please no spoilers.
Just wondering before GenCon gets too close: 1. Which technique would you recommend for making nice looking steel half-plate armor? The hobby foam method was what I was initially looking at and I've used it for other stuff, but I'm wondering if there's a more convincing (and still lightweight!)* alternative. 2. For artists and other folks that actually have an eye for color coordination: If you have a character design with silvery armor, light gray skin, black hair, and a cloth cap whose color is still in the air, what color would you recommend for that last piece? It was initially described as light brown with darker brown lining, but I'm wondering if there's a better match. Considered a switch to light gray with blue lining, but worried that it might make it all seem too colorless. *Being relatively lightweight is actually really important considering the stilts
Playing around with a monk/bard(perform:dance) concept again. Just wondering how others would go about achieving that kind of flavor. Figuring maxed Acrobatics and Escape Artist along with Skill Focus would cover the contortionist side of things. Wondering if there may be something else that could feed into that flavor though. Shattered Star spoilers: Basically working out two potential ally/recruitable NPCs for the Kaer Maga chapter, two Vudrani slave-monks raised and partially "de-programmed" by a guardian naga.
Been wondering about this for a while, and current events with errata have me needing to go ahead and ask: Will the Strategy Guide offer advice on how to make certain class concepts work? Or how certain classes are expected to fit into the game, along with what minimum numbers they're supposed to be hitting in order to be playable throughout a whole Adventure Path? Specifically an unarmed DEX-focused monk? That doesn't dump INT or CHA into the dirt? Just been frustrated with this for years, and even trying to reverse engineer the Grove Guardian from the NPC Codex has had people warning me away from it and pointing out that it's focus was impossible by the rules. And with the Crane WIng thing on top of that... Not trying to sound bitter here. Just hoping there's going to be some help in that book.
Stumbled upon something that hit me like a ton of nostalgic bricks. Then I found an even larger and more complete collection. Those specific pieces always stuck with me ever since I was a kid. There was just something about how lush they were and how they brought those games to life. That specific artist was actually a big part of what shaped the visuals of fantasy for my childhood, right alongside DiTerlizzi, Brom, and Elmore/Parkinson. God, this piece in particular. When I started playing D&D, that's what I wanted my PCs to be, right there. I never knew the artist's name until now, Katsuya Terada, who it turns out eventually went on to do Blood, The Last Vampire. He also did a lot of artwork for Nintendo Power. Final Fantasy* and Dragon Warrior/Quest particularly stand out in my memory as likely examples of his work. If so, he didn't exactly cleave close to official artwork in those cases, but I was still fond of them for how...different and fantastic it all was. I believe he also did interior artwork for the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest manual, and surely he's done far more for other games. A LOT of inventory/item artwork from that time bears a similar style. I don't know if there are any larger collections of his videogame-related artwork from that time, but I'm certainly going to hunt for it now. Man, to have more art like this in the videogame industry today... *His Final Fantasy IV artwork, not so much. Thinking of the first game here...
Towards Sheila Heidmarch or the Pathfinder Society in general? Reading PFS threads, I'm finding myself wondering if I need to do more to establish that Sheila and the local Pathfinder branch are not that, beyond telling the players to ignore the problematic bits of Seekers of Secrets and fleshing out Heidmarch and her manor staff some more. Has anyone actually had to deal with that bad PR though? Running this AP with a more heroic spin.
The last PC you played somehow became a god and now has to deal with the responsibility that comes with that station. You have a bunch of souls waiting to be born that have gotten backed up due to the recent turmoil surrounding your sudden apotheosis. You have to create some races to get those souls moving again. If you don't, bad things will happen because of REASONS. You have an entire continent to shape for your new races. RULES: 1. Using in-character considerations for your PC, you must create at 3 to 5 races using the Advanced Race Guide's Race Builder. 2. You have a pool of 50 RP to use in the creation of all of these races. For example, you can create four 10 RP races and one 20 RP race, or two 13 RP races and two 12 RP races. 3. If the Race Builder does not offer features you're looking for, feel free to use approximations and reskins when needed(such as for legless serpentine races or psionic races) Ideally, format your entries as: Deity name: formerly race/class:
Feel free to elaborate on your PC/deity's history, personality, and goals if you wish. Then describe how you've shaped your continent for your races in general. And then list your races, along with their abilities, traits, and RP costs. And then go into as much detail as you want about what these races are, their cultures, how they interact with each other, and how they view you.
Advanced Bestiary got one heck of a start last night. But what other old favorites would you like to see brought back, not just to have them updated to Pathfinder but also to give them higher visibility? I'm not sure it needs to converted to Pathfinder, but seeing Blue Rose brought back in an age of general grim dark grimdarkness would certainly be welcome. But even more than that, Hamunaptra. Expanded Hamunaptra. Fulltilt ancient Egyptian fantasy, with the core races re-envisioned as setting appropriate incarnations. For a long time the Hamunaptra boxed set was available here for a steal at five dollars. Now it's unavailable*...and that makes me sad. :( Heck, having it available in pdf form would be beyond sweet. *The sorta tie-in product, Desert Heroes, is still available as a pdf though.
Merry Christmas With A Vengeance! I will buy the following pdfs for the first twelve people to ask for them.
Chronicle of the Righteous (3 Available) All about the Empyreal Lords and their followers! Want more of a spotlight on Team Good? This book is for you! Champions of Purity (3 Available) Options in abundance for good-aligned characters of all stripes! Distant Worlds (3 Available) Tons of information and possibilities for adventures on other worlds, from psionically-rich Castrovel to high-tech Verces! Cerulean Seas: Beasts of the Boundless Blue (3 available) A beautiful bestiary featuring a LOT of new races and monsters to fill the oceans and waterways of your worlds.
Cackle of the Gnolls OR Emergence of the Aardvolk (3 available) Like gnolls? Like gnoll-alikes without the gnolls' baggage? This has you covered both ways! Book of Heroic Races: Reapers (3 available) A new planetouched race descended from psychopomps! Direlock Base Class (3 available) A strange class perfectly geared for alien cultures and characters! Mysteries of the Dead Side: Sacred Necromancer (3 available) Gives options for characters who touch the realms of the dead for purposes both fair and foul! The Expanded White Necromancer (3 available) For heroic necromancers who fight alongside the honored (un)dead! And up to two of Alluria Publishing's Remarkable Races: (9 available)
First come first served! If you'd like to pass on one of the items in the bundle, just say so and it'll go to the first person to ask for it. :) Just announce which items you'd like, and place them in your wishlist. It will probably take me until Monday to process all of them due to all the item juggling, but you'll get 'em. :) Also, take a look over at the Talented Adventurers of Spirosblaak fundraiser over at Indiegogo, and help out one of our 3pp's and Pathfinder contributors for Christmas!
So in a lot of the recent paladin/alignment threads, the (possibly inconsolable) differences between the paladin codes of Sarenrae and Torag have gotten a good bit of attention. But has anyone actually seen this combination come up in play? Either in a long home game or incidentally in PFS? How did it pan out? And how was that conflict resolved? (any merciful followers of another faith vs any class taking a hardline approach to Torag's faith may apply here as well) Got to thinking about this while gearing up for Wrath of the Righteous and realizing a big worry I had going into a campaign big on redemption themes was "Man, I hope there aren't any hardliner Toragites in the party..." Wow, that sure sounded Eeyore-ish.
I know vanilla Summoner dips are commonly advised against, but...it's really tempting for this character. Skull and Shackles campaign. Bringing back my primary PC who's spent the last several sessions dead and is being offered a rebuild. Basically as CN->CE Ekujae elven headhunter, alien sense of morality, worships an Arawn-like demon lord of the hunt. His outcast tribe's belief is that you keep what you kill, with those you claim eternally serving as hunts-kin or prey in the afterlife in a nasty sort of jungle environment Valhalla. Campaign goal is to kill his rival who killed his wife and to claim 100 skulls to please his patron and ensure that he can win back his wife in the afterlife. So basically Predator Elf. Anyway he died and we went a long stretch without being able to raise him. That's coming to and end soon, and the GM has said what with the torment he's been going through in the meantime(possibly with that Abyssal realm having a bit of a "year inside, hour outside" thing going on), he's going to be afforded a rebuild. So when he comes back, he's going to be dragging back his first notable "worthy opponent" trophy he claimed after joining the party, a crazed water naga in Eidolon form. I've got at least 11 levels to work with. This character is primarily going to be an archery-based ranger, but I'd like to throw in some summoner levels to get a decent Serpentine Eidolon. This is not going to be the most stout Eidolon around, but s/he's also probably going to be intended to be thrown under the bus quite frequently anyway because...well, vicious CN->CE headhunter. What I'm wondering is how best to make that Eidolon usable without so many levels that the Ranger-archer side of things starts to suffer too much. Right now I'm looking at Gills and Poison, though that DC with just one HD is probably a longshot at this point in the campaign.
All credit for this runaway train of thought goes to Rysky: When Dispater fell from Heaven, he was said to be holding onto another, most likely his first wife. As far as we know so far, she did not land in Hell with her hustband, if she went there at all. Dispater's current status: He can no longer remember the name and face of his first wife. He remembers her, but not the identifying details. These have somehow been struck from his memory, possibly by the fall, possibly by Asmodeus or Hell itself, or something else entirely. Of note, while Dispater is still horrifyingly evil, he's also the most lawful-over-evil leaning of the archdevils; he's the one with the most obvious redeeming traits. It's entirely possible that these traits are part of what carried over to his son Ragathiel and led to his rebellion and later ascension to Heaven. Dispater is known as the Iron Lord. Vildeis, almost immediately upon being born from the heavens, was so horrified by the existence of evil that she blinded herself and embraced an eternal martyrdom, bearing the weight of the multiverse's sins and suffering. The exact moment she started down this path was when the dagger Cicatrix mysteriously found its way into her hand. Cicatrix is described as looking like a thorn dropped from a gigantic iron rose. I had always assumed the description of Cicatrix was hinting at Dou-Bral related origins, but Rysky put some different clues together and wound up at an entirely unexpected "Holy Hell, maybe literally" conclusion: What if Vildeis is Dispater's first wife? Possibly reincarnated by Heaven itself in the hopes of giving her a clean slate, but her old guilt still found her and now she's bearing that weight. Or maybe she was entirely blameless period, and it was her beloved Dispater's sins that were the catalyst for her change? What if Cicatrix is the manifestation of Dispater's guilt, or severed conscience? Consider Cicatrix's destruction clause: "DESTRUCTION Cicatrix is destroyed if an evil outsider of CR 20 or higher uses the blade to sacrifice itself to save a good outsider's life". That's the kind of destruction clause you'd usually see on an evil artifact. But Cicatrix is not evil itself... Could that be a glimpse at Dispater's and Vildeis' future? With Dispater finally recognizing Vildeis for who she is? And Vildeis finally being freed from her burden by her lost husband's sacrifice? And how does Ragathiel play into this drama? Alternate idea, if Vildeis is not Dispater's wife herself, perhaps she is their daughter, born from the Heaven that absorbed her mother's essense as she died during Dispater's fall. That changes up the meaning of Cicatrix finding its way to her somewhat, and changes up the dynamics of how its destruction could play out as well. Really falling in love with the core idea here, because there's so much poetry waiting to happen here. Two lovers, both separated and confined in their own hells, and the only ones who can free them are each other...
Just discovered the works of Christie Sims. Don't look her up at work, by the way. Leaving aside the baffling and mildly terrifying paleophilia, finding out that there was a market for adult micro-novellas made picking a random page in the Monster Manual after that market was simultaneously tapped and flooded is a real kick in the pants. I feel like I missed the gold rush. :(
srsly, if you can read a list of titles of her works on Amazon without laughing or gasping in horror, you have more self control than any of us who discussed this post-game last night. 
Has anyone picked up the hardcover edition? I'm donating some more graphic novels to the local library and strongly considering this title for cultural relevance.
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