Myles Otter's page

Kinda - my group failed to kill Nazhena, so I'm having her reappear here. Since the module doesn't really go into why the Drakelands forces are attacking, I'm using Nazhena as the instigator.

We know that the winter collector on Triaxus is there to fuel Irrisen's eternal winter. I'm expanding on this idea by having Nazhena sent (as penance / challenge to regain her place after the pcs defeated her) to negotiate a foothold so that more of the queen's witches can come to copy the winter collector and place more around Triaxus.

Originally, the winter collector is up at the north pole. I moved it to just southwest of Spurhorn, just inside the Drakelands area of control. Nazhena initially tried to bribe the white dragon general (whose name escapes me right now), but he reacted poorly, insulted by her temerity. He banished her from the Drakelands.

Nazhena decided that the commander of Spurhorn could be used to take over the Drakelands territory containing the winter collector. She got Commander Pharomol (sp?) to agree to an assassination of the white dragon general without consulting his council (better to ask forgiveness, etc.), but the assassination failed. Now, as the adventurers arrive, the white dragon is determined to enact righteous revenge for the slight, Nazhena and Pharomol are at odds over the failed plot, and the council is upset with their commander for not discussing the idea first and starting a war.

This adds a bit of philosophical complexity to the situation. The Drakelands are, as a whole, rather evil in alignment, but have been unlawfully attacked in a cowardly manner, making them the righteous force in this conflict. The Dragon Legion is filled with strife and now known to be capable of dastardly action, but are still the more traditionally good alliance.

For Nazhena, I saw that her original writeup had the beginnings of decent golemancy, so I have leveled her up with 3 more winter witch (prestige class) levels and have her accompanied by a trio of ice golems and her new toy, a clay golem carved and painted to look like a really stunty frost giant. It'll be a challenging encounter, but the situation will allow the pcs to encounter her well before conflict breaks out, to ready themselves on how to take her down when it finally comes to blows. Even after the pcs show up, Nazhena will be attempting to salvage the situation, as getting kicked out during the siege means she'll likely be captured and dragged before the white dragon to answer for her crime.

Not quite the intrigue you were suggesting, but it does add a bit and ties things in nicely with the first two modules :)

But this adds to the question: how do you make an army with little to no magic able to handle sorcerers?

Same way ill-equipped armies handled the appearance of machine guns and other battlefield-changing technology: poorly at first, then by adaptive tactics or coming up with their own. Skirmishers and snipers are very effective against armies which focus their power into small areas. For specifics, build up the history of how armed warfare has developed - as each new spell is capitalized by an army, another army will find a way to fight it.

Featherfall, so you never have to descend the stairs as a mundane chump again!

Almost done with book two: http://mylesotter.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-dawn-piper-laid-patch-of-grease. html

Updated to the most recent session:http://mylesotter.blogspot.com/2015/02/trollbridge-antics.html

Name: Zacarius
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Spirit Shaman
Adventure: The Shackled Hut
Location: About a day outside of Whitethrone
Catalyst: Ambush by hawkmasters and Norgrimm
The Gory Details: The hawks scouting for Norgrimm's rangers easily spotted the group. Norgrimm buried himself in the snow along the party's path while the archers set themselves in small copses of trees along a low ridgeline where they could get a good 400' range shot. The group moved forward until shot at, when they split up. Norgrimm waited until melee was too far forward to help, then went after the kineticist and shaman in the back (they had been dealing with hawks). Norgrimm critted Zacarius the round after breathing on him, then fell to the kineticist before he could do any more damage.

More gory details at http://mylesotter.blogspot.com/2015/02/quicklings-be-damned.html (or just http://mylesotter.blogspot.com/ for the entire campaign so far) :)

I plan to, though we'll be taking a short hiatus as the holiday season's plans interfere.

And now the break is over:

I plan to, though we'll be taking a short hiatus as the holiday season's plans interfere.

I am running Reign of Winter and the party has just finished Snows of Summer. I've been keeping a record of their experiences at At the Gaming Table.

I've been running it strictly as written in the adventure path, barring a few mistakes.

I think it would depend heavily on the size of the tree.

Good point. For some reason, I was thinking he said it was only a 4" trunk (there are some species of trees that could take a hunter's blind with that thin of a trunk, but not many).

I think I'd rule on it depending on intent.

If you were trying to give the tree a sharp jolt to shake the archer out, I think I'd rule it as a bull rush against the archer, but the archer gets no AoO and you can't follow up (a tree trunk being in your way). Of course, this likely will mean that on any success the archer will fall out of the tree and take falling damage, but if you fail it'll have no impact.

If you were trying to snap the trunk and just knock the whole tree down (which would definitely deny the archer his perch), I'd have you make a break check for wood; if successful, I'd have the archer make a balance check to ride the tree down; if he failed, I'd give him half the falling damage (since he's supported and slowed by the tree) and have him fall prone as the tree strikes the ground.