Mr. Quick's page

My group is almost done with the first module in this series. it's been a LOT of fun to play so far. Although, given that half the group decided to take advantage of the recent release of the advanced races guide they make for one weird looking group of press ganged sailors.

that aside, they've learned harsh lessons about having balanced characters - pure combat skills are important but they've had to learn the value of skills they normally wouldn't consider key. things like perform, heal, profession: sailor, and swim. they've learned to count ammo and to think in THREE dimensions during combat (yes Virgina you CAN fight in the rigging!) Bluff is proving to be extremely useful as well as diplomacy and intimidate. its been something of a learning experience for my players but...they've adapted well and everyone is really enjoying themselves.

next up is the grindylows cave and the mutiny afterwards. we shall see what they do if/when they rid themselves of master scourge and mister plug. he's lashed every one of 'em at least once and the gunslinger has been slammed a couple times for being impertinent. so I suspect some bad things are gonna happen to those two should they survive the mutiny.

apologies if this has been covered before (my searches didn't return anything directly on point) but I've got a couple players considering playing a coven of witches for skull and shackles. so here goes:

Coven (Ex): The witch counts as a hag for the purpose of joining a hag’s coven. The coven must contain at least one hag. In addition, whenever the witch with this hex is within 30 feet of another witch with this hex, she can use the aid another action to grant a +1 bonus to the other witch’s caster level for 1 round. This bonus applies to the witch’s spells and all of her hexes.

questions:

1. does the coven need an actual hag to form the coven, or does it just need more than one witch who has the coven hex in order for this to work? the wording is a bit vague. plus, I highly doubt the usefulness of a hex that requires a player group to somehow attract and keep the services of an NPC monster.

2. assuming the coven doesn't need an actual hag to form said coven, does the coven gain the actual 'hag coven' spells and abilities or do they just get the bonuses listed in the coven hex? those powers of a hag coven are pretty hard core. seems a bit much to give a low ranking level 2 or 3 coven of witches a massive power boost like that.

thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions!

I just downloaded my PDF copy of adventure #2 for this AP and skimmed it early this morning. I am very impressed with what i've seen so far, and I've got every reason to believe this story arc is only going to get better as it moves forward.

i'm finishing off kingmaker this month with my group (we've got about...4 sessions left I think) and then we're taking a short break and firing up the pirates. I am already pondering other ships and crews for the party to plunder!

with the new AP Skull and Shackles coming out, i've been reading up on the places near where the AP will presumably take place. And one of the most striking features of that area of the world is, of course, the Eye of Abendego.

what I think I know about the Eye - it formed at the same time Aroden died. it's a permanent storm. nobody's been to the center of the storm, or if they have they kept quiet about it. there's rumors of at least one ship found floating out of the Eye intact but missing it's crew, and the ship being relatively pristine despite being almost a century old.

questions:

*why* did the Eye form? was something in that area intimately connected to Aroden? or was Aroden himself in that area when he died? If the Eye formed when Aroden died, maybe it formed around the place where he died as well...if so, could the Eye be protecting Aroden's corpse?

what was in the center of the Eye before that storm kicked off? What was known about the history of that place prior to Aroden's death?

suppositions:

somehow and for some reason, the Eye is connected to Aroden. either he died there or something intimately connected to him is at the center of the storm, with the storm forming a barrier around it once Aroden died. possible temporal anomolies could be at the center of the Eye, perhaps the center of the storm is a portal to a demi-plane. it seems unlikely that there is any active intelligence behind the Eye of Abendego, which rules out any sort of conspiracy or plot...meaning that if someone could penetrate into the center of that storm, they could plunder its' treasures without consequences (or less consequnces than would be the norm anyways).

thoughts? comments? suggestions?

we're finishing up Kingmaker soon-ish (they just started war of the rivre kingdoms), and i've put forward the idea of running Skull & Shackles as our next story.

I'm a subscriber, so I have my PDF copy and reviewed it. I like what I see so far, and it looks like a pretty darn nifty concept. coming right from Kingmaker, this AP looks like it might have a similar 'sandbox' style approach as it moves forward.

party breakdown at this point is probably going to be something like this:

human fighter
human druid or sea witch
gunslinger of some sort. (half elven? player hasn't decided yet).
tiefling wizard ( Thassalon lust/enchanter) or bard.

i'm thinking so far that everyone's character concepts would fit the theme (more or less) so no problems there. that said - I suspect that guns will be something the gunslinger will want to see more of as the AP progresses. it's too early to tell yet just how big an impact firearms might have in this AP...but I suspect that most ships aren't running around fielding 12 lb brass napolean cannons and that guns in general are fairly rare.

we probably won't start for a bit yet tho, they've got a war in the River kingdoms to finish and several secrets yet to uncover. probably won't get started on this AP until the 2nd module hits shelves. can't wait to get started!

i'm having a brain reboot - are there rules anywhere that cover demonic (or any evil spirit) possession? I have an idea for a campaign twist and want to see if the details are covered in the rules anywhere but can't remember if I saw 'em in pathfinder rules or not.

I've been reading up on the back story for Golarion and there's plenty there for me to enjoy and possibly use...but one thing that kinda sticks in my memory (for the moment anyway) is Azlant. I'll explain further.

ok, so we know that Azlant was destroyed because they got the Aboleth ticked off at them. they dialed up the starstone, smashed Azlant to bits and kicked off an age of darkness that sucked for everyone, including themselves. that part I understand....but why were the Aboleth pissed off?

speculation: I cannot confirm/document this part, so I'll classify it as speculation. I think there have been hints and allegations in the back story material to establish that the Aboleth considered Azlant an experiment. But what was the experiment and what did they want to accomplish? were they building better humans? did they want smarter slaves? the Azlanti could have been an attempt to build better people and it went wrong. Or maybe they were trying to build a model of human that was part mortal/terrestrial life and part...other. maybe the Azlanti were to be bred with things from Dark Tapestry. But things went screwy and the Azlanti broke aboleth control(s).

I think what I can't get past is that nothing happens in a vaccum...even ancient slimy alien horrors have to have a reason for their actions. Even if the reason is horrible or seems dumb to us, there has to be a reason behind their actions. I just don't see a reason for the aboleth to artifically evolve the Azlanti humans.

I will add one other thing. Based on data from Lost Cities of Golarion book (specifically Sun Temple Colony), I can infer that the Azlanti might have been aiming to capture the gods and use them for some unknown purpose. I don't know if their society was atheist from the start, or if that was just one small (if powerful) faction but they do seem to have been uncaring of the results of their experiments into the gods. At any rate, the Azlanti could have been intended as a means to capture the gods for the aboleth. Further speculation - could Aroden (the Last Azlanti) have ultimately been the final result of the aboleth attempts at understanding the process of divinity? nobody really knows how old Aroden was at the time of his apotheosis. In theory he COULD have known about the aboleth experiments and techniques concerning the divine. If so, that might have been the real reason for his mucking about with the starstone.

anywho, just some thoughts on the matter. figured I'd throw them out to the masses and see what the community had to say.

I just finished reading 'Dungeons of Golarion'. don't want to be spoiler-y so I keep it lite...but DEAR GODS is Gallowspire evil!

without epic level rules of some sort in place, I wouldn't even think about running any sort of adventure that involved that tower. unless said adventure was set somewhere that you could maybe just barely see it in the distance.

I'm pretty sure I remember there being details somewhere about using 'extra HD' from the animate dead spell being used to create things like fast zombies, exploding skeletons and/or things like zombies/skeleton lords. anyone know the page reference for it? I'm drawing a blank.

so...I was pondering what to do with an alchemist class the other day. Has anyone considered alchemists duplicating clerical abilities? going with the theme of mad science, alchemical healing and/or resurrection has all sorts of possiblities. Even if a mad alchemist got it right and DID find a way to bring someone back to life, they could botch the job somehow and corrupt the soul of the unfortunate patient.

I might just be rambling madly though. I had a couple vague ideas about how to push the limits of an alchemist, nothing firm yet.

Back in the glory days when Paizo ran Dungeon magazine, they had a semi-regular thing called 'maps of mystery'. as I recall, they were really well done...but I was wondering if anyone ever gathered them up and put them all in one place?

i'm curious about the history of lichdom in Golarion. I know that the big bad Tar-Baphon is frequently mentioned, but is lichdom itself relatively common? is knowledge of the process suppressed by everyone or merely considered highly repulsive? Do commoners know what a lich is and would they hate it on sight?

I was clicking through channels and saw a bit on 3d printing, namely a company named 'Makerbot'. I hadn't realized that the technology had progressed that far. For those unfamiliar with the concept - a 3d printer is essentially the same as a 2D printer...you put in your design and then you can print whatever it is you need, as many copies of it that you need.

well so what - that's what I hear you saying...but consider this: a 3D printer can make small to medium sized objects. cranking out a ton of miniatures via open source design would be childs play. once you got the 3D design hammered into shape, it's just push a button and BAM! all those expensive pre-painted minis you see in the Paizo online store are suddenly yours to use/abuse as you will. Same for Warmachine, Warhammer 40k, or anyone else you can think of who makes/sells models for RPG and/or any sort of tabletop game.

interesting idea...but I wonder if anyone has fully explored the implications of 3D printing?

yup...the put the inquisitor in charge of collecting kingdom taxes.

I find this hilarious. And given that the Inquisitor is a follower of Asmodeus, well...the jokes just kinda write themselves.

the more I read about Thassalon the more I like it. An ancient empire ruled by mad arch wizards who used magic based around the 7 deadly sins? oh yeah! what's not to like about that concept?

From what I gather, some of the Runelords aren't entirely dead either, they could be waking up. which gives me an excuse to further develop/expand on 'sin magic' for my game.

God knows I love the pathfinder PDF files from my subscriptions...but some of the older files are not ipad friendly at all. the artwork looks wonky, the maps don't show up at all (or show up looking hella funky) and some of the text is missing/dropped letters. they're barely legible.

so...anyone know how I can address the issue? I like having my pathfinder books as reference material on the iPad so that I know I can tag and jump to them with just a few touches. it's nice to have a reference sheet like that nearby and NOT have to lug all the dead tree products in my bookshelves along all the time to every game.

my players early on made the decision that their kingdom would be chaotic neutral (with strong neutral evil tendencies). I've got a necromancer as magister, an infernal bloodline sorcerer as king and a privy council that thinks using undead is fine, a local demon cult is spiffy so long as they pay taxes on time (and don't eat any of their friends) and lets just say the uses they found for a lost/confused werewolf don't bear speaking about in mixed company.

i'm wondering just how far they can push the boundaries before generating additional kingdom unrest. so far, the majority of their actions have remained concealed from the population at large. But the necromancers growing legion of undead is eventually gonna get noticed, as is the Noctilla cult they've got running the local brothel. I'm finding it an interesting campaign to run...but I was wondering if anyone else running this AP has had players 'turn evil' and go do unspeakable things in order to bring peace and prosperity to their kingdom.

In light of the recent adventure path article on the subject of lycanthropy...what would YOU do if one of your characters ended up getting bitten and cursed?

i'm just mildly curious.

I'm running the pathfinder Kingmaker adventure path. i'm still in the opening stages of the campaign (they're on book #2 at this point) and one of my players is a necromancer. she's made it clear that at some point or another she'd like to have her character at least research the topic of lichdom for herself, and i'm somewhat at a loss on how to handle it. I don't want to flatly deny the request, since it's a viable path for a necromancer specialist to take...but at the same time I don't want to make it easy either.

now...as anyone who's played the Kingmaker series knows there IS a certain point in the series where it is possible to find at least some scattered notes on all kinds of necromancy spells. so inserting the basic knowledge of the lichdom process wouldn't be out of line. so that's not an issue. my question is how would I go about applying the template to a player character in a somewhat reasonable and yet terrifying manner?

thoughts/suggestions/comments?

I can't wait for this one to hit my mail box.

first off, let me start by saying that I really LOVE this adventure path! it's well designed, and the city/kingdom rules look to be easily expandable and well designed. kudos all around on this path guys!

However...I like to tinker. i'm sure most gamemaster type people do...and i got to thinking about what I could add to the adventure path and customize it a bit for my players. here's what I've got so far (and keep in mind these are just rough ideas and not fleshed out yet):

1. early on, (say by around level 3) the party meets Ariza, a charming and very pretty young female sorcerer of indeterminate bloodline (she says she's partly fey). perhaps she provides some timely assistance in a tough fight, or is merely a reliable source of lore and/or advice. she does her best to aid the party, making friends and helping them in their quests as best she can while trying to build a potion making business in their lands. All well and good...but 'Ariza' is a succubus (with perhaps a level or two of sorcerer). her goal is to help build up a powerbase and in a short century or so, turn an entire population to the worship of chaos and evil. of course, her mask isn't perfect, and being essentially a walking advertisment for the sins of lust and over-indulgence, she will eventually let rip with one wild party too many and might attract the attention of party clerics or paladins. perhaps she increases Economy but also unrest?

2. Encounter (location: wood hex/mountains/hills). A ruined and forgotten house/complex. formerly the home of a reclusive wizard or cleric that dabbled in magics best left alone, the home is largely decayed into a rotted ruin. However, years of experiments have left a taint upon the lands in that hex, focused on the ruins. clearing the hex and rebuilding the ruins halfs the cost of building a wizard academy. the kingdom owning the hex also case illusion/shadow spells at +1 caster level while in the hex. however, given the creepy reptuation of the hex and generally spooky atmosphere, the hex also generates 2 unrest per kingdom turn.

3. lake candelmere/ruined tower. after clearing the hex and further exploring the tower, a dedicated search finds a secret cave complex on the island (located under the tower perhaps?). the caves have been largely abandoned for decades, but they were once a place of refuge and worship for a cult dedicated to the Old Ones. What happened to the cultists is a mystery, but a dedicated search of their remaining library turns up scraps of information regarding spells related to time, distance and/or teleportation. allows eligible spell casters to learn/cast transportation magic (dimension door, teleportation and like effects) at +1 caster level. however, the month following the plundering of the library there's a rash of pregnancies in the nearest village/town controlled by the players kingdom. each of these children is born an aberrent bloodline sorcerer, generating 2 unrest for the next three kingdom turns.

Anywho, just some thoughts I've had on the matter. I'll add more as I ponder the concept(s). feel free to chime in with more ideas and/or improvements!

I'm prepping for a start of the 'Kingmaker' adventure path. without giving anything away to those who might play in it, there's a...possible...lovecraftian style link to an obscure part of the game. But I digress. What i'm pondering is expanding that possibility a bit while customizing my game. Along those lines, I thought I'd ask for a second opinion on spells, feats, skills...anything that might be 'lovecraftian' in style. I'd like to give the group a chance to possibly find and/or use a few spells or abilities that could tempt them to great power and madness.

the other alternative is to let the party possibly find a few fragments of Thassalonia 'sin magic' and see how that influences the development of their kingdom.

thoughts/comments/ideas/suggestions welcome.

So what do you think the odds are of a paizo server crash in 20 minutes or so?

I've been looking over the cleric domains from various older products (book of vile darkness, hordes of the abyss, liber mortis etc) and was wondering if anyone has converted any of those cleric domains and/or feats from all those books. If there were any guidelines I'd start it myself and work my way down the list, but no point in re-inventing the wheel if it's already been done.

thoughts/comments/suggestions?

I ran across some comments about it in the campaign setting book, but aside from some very intriguing (and somewhat contradictory) details, there wasn't much to read.

Will the concept ever be fleshed out or will that be something left for players to use/abuse for ourselves? Are there more details somewhere and I simply missed them?

Inquiring minds want to know.

In my never ending quest to ponder all things Cheliax, I was thinking about the Hellknights.

Uniforms - different badges for different ranks?
Weapons - greensteel blades forged in Baator?
Armor - again, greensteel? maybe different armor styles for different ranks?

I'm also wondering if becoming a hellknight means you get the Evil Brand feat? I'm thinking it might even mean signing an Infernal Pact, at least at higher ranks. Maybe branding and/or infernal pact is just at officer level.

hrm. going back to some of the ideas from my previous Cheliax thread, maybe orphans and street kids get scooped up and inducted into state run training schools. they get an education and a steady diet of propaganda. the rank and file of those graduates end up as law clerks and minor functionaries all across the Empire...but the best and brightest could end up being inducted into the lower ranks of the Hellknights. Just a thought.

comments? suggestions?

I was pondering a campaign involving Cheliax, specifically the border between Cheliax and Andoran. I think the potential for conflict there has great potential...but along the way I started to ponder what sort of changes devils might make to human society.

Back to the books I went. I pulled my copy of Fiendish Codex II off the shelves. While plenty of detail was there concerning the politics of Hell, I found the details on infernally influenced realms to be somewhat lacking.

So I started to speculate. As hinted at in the codex, devils would start to shape mortal realms to reflect the philosophy of Hell itself - unbending, inflexible rule of of Law and Evil (in that order).

With that in mind, i'm wondering about the details of just how the infernals might warp an entire society towards their ideal lawful and evil society.

I guess the most obvious place to start would be with schools. I'd imagine that one of the first things that infernals would do is to make education of the young to be a priority. reach mortal children before they can be 'corrupted' by good or chaos. set up a system that teaches and rewards kids when they commit acts of lawful evil intent. something like hogwarts, only warped and very abusive. A system of snitches, encourage upper classmen to abuse younger students. plus you can educate your human workers to be useful in maintaining the nuts and bolts of your new society.

Aside from a system of 'elite' schools, I was thinking that the next obvious choice would be to encourage a strong legal system. you can manipulate society in all sorts of ways by passing laws to force changes in behavior. tax law, criminal code, contract law...even regulations on food prep and 'safety laws' could be used to make people used to restrictive intrusions into their personal lives. Then you encourage people to lobby for loopholes and make them commit minor acts of corruption and evil in order to obtain a dispensation from harsh and expensive laws.

hmm. I suppose there's also the matter of secret police to consider but again, that's fairly obvious. I'd imagine Cheliax to be a place where people have traded freedom for safety. where their basic needs are met, but they are always watched over, spied upon, regulated, taxed, numbered and stamped. A place where they can only get a break from the stifling and oppressive rules by selling a tiny bit of their soul...and just when they're getting used to that breath of fresh air - the door slams shut and the devils clamp the chains back on their feet.

Random thoughts:

fashion - uniform, bland, rigid and unimaginative. functional over flashy.

Food - basic nutritional needs met, spices heavily taxed and regulated.

Basic necessities of life would be subjected to engineered shortages, black market in luxury goods and items would be tightly controlled.

Art - propaganda, religious instruction...art for the sake of art would be an alien concept...and maybe driven underground. artists as rebels?

Anyways, that's just my rantings on the subject. insomnia is a terrible thing! any suggestions or comments?