Michael C Allen's page

Hello All. I am very much looking forward to running the first book of the Shattered Heart Adventure Arc from AAW Games at the end of the month. I had a blast writing the whole series and am excited to revisit the beginning of the story.

As you can see from the description, I will be running the book in three self-contained segments (Parts 1,2, and 3) over the course of the Con. The break points line up with the chapters of the book, so there are good resolution points for each session. Picollo needs heroes, whether for one part, two parts, or the entirety of the quest to restore the water temple and reintroduce the tenets of community and joy to the beleaguered halfling nation.

Stay tuned for more info on character builds and pregenerated characters as we get closer. Any questions, I am happy to answer.

Hello all.

This is Michael Allen, and I am the grand prize winner of the First Annual Pathmaster contest from AdventureAWeek.com.

I am working up some pitches for the six-part adventure path I will be writing for AAW and had a few questions for the crowd to help me define the scope of the project.

What scope of adventure path are you interested in?

An epic 1-20th level path?

A tighter (6-7 levels worth of advancement) path.

Or something in between.

If you are looking for a tighter path, what is your ideal level range?

Would you be up for an adventure path with a larger level spread that you had to drop in other adventures in between episodes to level up?

And finally, if you had to put a percentage on sandbox vs scripted tale where would your percentages lie?

Thanks in advance for any feedback. I am really looking forward to working on this.

Michael

Is there an adjustment for the Heroic Nature of the campaign such that PCs should have WBL one higher than the table on average(6th level PCs should have 7th level gold for example)?

yeah - ok.. so the rules seem a little funky in terms of spotting an avalanche until its right on top of you. Maybe that is the intent.

from the CRB: The avalanche can be spotted from as far away as 1d10 × 500 feet by a character who makes a DC 20 Perception check, treating the avalanche as a Colossal creature.

Is this a straight DC 20 perception check with no modification for distance? Or is it a DC 4 check after you modify the "stealth" factor of the Colossal avalanche by -16 and then add the distance modifier. Even at 500 feet, the DC in this second case is 54 - 4 plus 50 for distance (500/10).

I don't see how its possible to perceive a start point more than 1,000 feet away (DC 104 anyone?) - although I understand the party sees it automatically after it travels half way from the start point.

Hearing the Avalanche at 500 feet is a bit easier because of the distance modifier change in the mountains to 1 per 20 feet. The modified DC -1 (the hearing perception check is base 15 ) becomes a 24 in that case (39 to hear it at 1,000 feet).

And then there is this:

Stealth and Detection in Mountains: As a guideline, the maximum distance in mountain terrain at which a Perception check for detecting the nearby presence of others can succeed is 4d10 × 10 feet. Certain peaks and ridgelines afford much better vantage points, of course, and twisting valleys and canyons have much shorter spotting distances. Because there's little vegetation to obstruct line of sight, the specifics on your map are your best guide for the range at which an encounter could begin. As in hills terrain, a ridge or peak provides enough cover to hide from anyone below the high point.

If The Avalanche is treated as a colossal Creature (an other): seems like the max distance it can be spotted in this interpretation is 400 feet, heard more easily. Sheesh -that one phrase "treating the avalanche as a Colossal creature" is really messing up my understanding.

Any help on calculating these DCs correctly would be appreciated.

Its clear to me you cant take 20 with a heal check, as there is a penalty for failure.

But can you take 10? Assuming no other distractions.

For example on a treat wounds check for caltrops after a combat.

Thanks for any advice.

At my last society game, one of the players added a +2 to his (UMD) wand activation check because he had used the wand in question before. A reread of the rules seems to indicate that this +2 bonus only applies when trying to Activate Blindly (that strange unidentified wand you found in the dungeon rather than the one you bought at the magic store - where the seller handily provided you with the spell trigger). There is nothing about a +2 for previous use in the Use a Wand, Staff or Other Spell Trigger Item section of the skill description.

Can anyone clarify this for me.

Much Thanks