----- Tactics ----- Before Combat Rasputin observes the PCs at several points during the adventure, as noted. During this time, he applies his mesmerist tricks to allies in the field to aid them from afar. When it comes time for his own fight, he activates his scroll of true seeing using use magic device, drinks his potions, and finally activates his reflection of weakness mesmerist trick on himself. These bonuses are included in his stat block.
During Combat By now, Rasputin has developed a relatively decent understanding of his enemy’s abilities, and uses his spells and kinetic infusions to whittle away at foe’s weaknesses. In particular, he focuses his mind-affecting abilities on foes who’ve shown poor resolve, and his kinetic infusions and foe throw on unsteady targets. When he drops below 0 HP, Rasputin’s mythic abilities allow him to function all the way to -50HP, a time during which he uses instigate psychic duel in an effort to single out a particularly meddlesome target while preserving his ability to act (albeit within a binary mindscape).
Morale On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.
----- Statistics ----- Str 7, Dex 16, Con 25, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 30
Base Atk +12; CMB +10 (+18 when using CMB infusions); CMD 27 Feats Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Defensive Combat Training, Diehard^B, Fatiguing Stare, Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment, Improved Initiative, Spell Focus: Enchantment, Toughness^M, Weapon Focus: Kinetic Blast^M
Skills Appraise +8, Bluff +29, Diplomacy +23, Escape Artist +14, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (nobility) +6, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +8, Heal +12, Linguistics +8, Perception +15, Sense Motive +16, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +13, Use Magic Device +23
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Church Slavonic, Common, Russian, Latin
SQ amazing initiative (+4), consummate liar, display of charisma, display of constitution, elemental focus: aether, infusion specialization (2), mental potency (+1), mental prowess (1/day), mesmerist tricks (12/day. DC24, [manifold tricks: 2], gift of will, meek façade [+3], psychosomatic surge [1d8+4], reflection of weakness, shadow splinter [7]), mind over matter, overwhelming power (+2), recuperation, touch treatment (11/day. Confused, dazed, fascinated, frightened, sickened, shaken)
Gear mwk dagger, mwk Nagant M1895 revolver with 21 metal cartridges,+2 glamered mithral chain shirt (Cossack Garb), amulet of natural armor +1, belt of physical might +4 (Dex, Con), crystal ball, headband of mental prowess +4 (Wis, Cha), muleback cords, potions of bear’s endurance, eagle’s splendor, and shield ; ring of protection +2, scrolls of antilife shell and true seeing
----- Special Abilities ----- Stitched Soul (su) Rasputin’s soul is stitched to his body with threads of fate, and he clings tenaciously to life. He gains Diehard as a bonus feat. In addition, when first reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than his current Con score, Rasputin dies, but he springs back to life 1d4 rounds later as if the target of a resurrection spell. If killed a second time, the Mad Monk again comes back to life 1d6 rounds later, as if the target of a raise dead spell (upon his return, he loses 50% of his remaining unused spell slots as if they had been used to cast spells). Only after Rasputin is slain for a third time do his soul’s stitches finally unravel from his corpse, releasing his malignant spirit into the ether.
Spoiler:
1. This Rasputin is built with the overwhelming soul kineticist archetype, mesmerist, and guardian mythic path. Mesmerist is a no-brainer for Rasputin’s formidable personality and deception, while the overwhelming soul archetype allows him to express his formidable personality; to the point that he can use some semblance of the ectoplasmic features of the occult oracle mystery as part of his original build, and focus his mesmerist talents on utility effects rather than direct damage.
2. Although, in the AP, he’s in the process of stealing Baba Yaga’s mythic power, this represents some degree of siphoning having already been completed, and most importantly gives him a few neat tricks up his sleeve in the form of a mythic power reservoir, a higher initiative, and access to incredible durability and mythic toughness/weapon focus, as well as the mythic display options for both constitution and charisma. Beyond Morality rounds out his mythic path abilities to play up Rasputin’s incongruence.
3. Overall, this occult version of Rasputin focuses more greatly on supplying his allies before combat with mesmerist tricks, and using his illusions to whittle away at his foes before they ever arrive in the Chapel. When the PCs do confront him for the final battle, his soul-stitched ability and incredible survivability ensure a truly epic experience in having to actually kill the man who survived so much in our Earth. When possible, he uses his infusions and stare abilities to make enemies vulnerable to the allies he’s cultivated in the meantime.
4. Rasputin’s knacks exclude detect poison because he normally just tanks it; after all, on Earth, there’s very few fort saves he’s going to fail, and it gives the Russian nobility quite the scare as a benefit. The rest of his knacks are his go-to spells for Earth as they’re practical and also effective against non-adventurers.
5. His first level spells are all utility powers to further his schemes. Ill omen is a great spontaneous spell for him, as it scales with his caster level and offers no save, increasing the efficiency of his other compulsions or forcing enemies attempt to strike him to fumble. Surge of adrenaline, in conjunction with his mythic display abilities, can account for some of his more tremendous practical feats of survival and resilience.
6. Hypnotism and kinetic healing allow him to perform some of the various “miracles” he’s remembered for on earth, as well as his touch treatments, psychosomatic surge, and gift of will abilities. While most of the abilities are temporary, they certainly are effective boons for his allies.
7. Rasputin’s second level spells are a combination of effective tools for aiding his allies as well as ensnaring the mines of his enemies. Instigate psychic duel in particular is useful when Rasputin is below 0HP, as it allows him to act normally against a single target and destroy them from within. It isn’t quite the occult mystery’s magic jar, but it serves a similar practical function.
8. His third level spells are all combat based, given that if someone is capable of resisting his formidable powers, he needs a more direct means to destroy them. Given his predilection for spying on his foes at numerous points during the adventure, and the general player reaction of seeing their own spells turned against them, he particularly enjoys using spite and greater oneiric horror in tandem to frustrate them, while bestow curse can dramatically reduce a foe’s ability to fight back.
9. I wasn’t quite sure how to lay out Rasputin’s kineticist abilities, since they scale. I grouped them by blast, utility, and infusion for ease of reference. The bracketed number refers to the burn cost associated, while elements are listed in the concentration stat line. Telekineticists gain two very useful traits which mimic occult mystery abilities: force ward and force blast, the latter of which replaces Rasputin’s ectoplasmic spell feat in the original. His other abilities, in addition to the psychic skill unlocks, can account for some of his more mundane mysticism rather than the overt magic he’s capable of as an oracle.
I was thinking four as well, and picking up combine poisons and venomous bolt. Between MA and TM I can churn out poisons with enough frequency to be using them to boost my attacks. With Black Market Connections, reagents aren't a problem and I've been allowed to reduce the price of poisons through it due to the nature of my build (houseruled).
Hmmm. Looks like I overlooked study combat doesn't work with ranged...whooops. I guess I'll have to pick up some melee skills.
Anyway guys, my question at this point is less of which tricks I should take (Combine Poison and Venomous Bolt/Pernicious Poison), and more of whether I should go for three, four, or six levels. Right now four is looking good, but swift action poisons sounds great.
Money's not an issue since I've been ruled into using BMC to get reagents for cheaper. I'm basically a crafter of mundane devices, and it's been pretty effective so far. Sure, I'm not doing alchemist bomb damage, but I've made due with the bare essentials. Plus, I've been using Master Alchemist to make enough poison to share the love with the party, so they've given me kickbacks for crafting alchemical remedies and such.
Like I said, it's not potions, but it gets the job done.
Hey everyone, I'm trying to get the most of the Daggermark Poisoner PrC. Right now, my PC is an Investigator in a River Kingdoms campaign taking place around the city. He's taken Black Market Connections and Master Alchemist so obtaining reagents and meeting the entry requirements shouldn't be a problem. The GM has mentioned that the game is going to cap at level 12, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to go with my Inv X/Dag Y.
However, because Studied Strike doesn't synergise with Treacherous Toxin, the fifth level ability. I'm also a primarily ranged character, so I don't plan on sticking in the class for Swift Poisoning or Instantaneous Toxicology.
That said, I think I'm going to be taking at minimum three levels to hit toxic manufactory so I never need to worry about being able to come up with poisons on the road. So I'm trying to figure out the best number of levels to take. I was thinking either 3, 4, or 6.
Six gets the most mileage out of the class with three toxic tricks, swift poisoning, and toxic manufactory.
Three is useful for toxic manufactory, and four grabs another toxic trick (venomous bolt and pernicious poison are both super useful.)
I'm really excited for the arcanist. The class seems super cool, but if it's not your speed, don't include it in your games. As far as PFS play goes, I'm sure this'll go the way of the Synthesist and gunslinger shenanigans.
I'm personally thrilled at seeing how the "magical hacker" comes into play. In a way, I'm kind of hoping it's super strong because of how it'll fit into my given campaign.
Are arcanists lost casters from an ancient civilization, marking a time when magic in the blood was just as prevalent as magic in tomes? Are they a new phenomenon? How the arcanist fits into your world is kind of your own decision. This class is going to be awesome no matter which side of the table you're on.
Dude, despite my minor gripes this is an incredible product. Are you guys considering a compiled/revised version of HotE? Tangentially, where are the judo style feats located? It's briefly referenced in HotE 2, but I can't seem to find it. (I promise not to go offtopic again...anyone who's reading this, seriously consider DTO).
While Runeforge seems pretty cool, it seems like a really long grind to subject my players to; and FotSG seems pretty boring after the initial Sandpoint assault.
Am I missing something in the reading that comes out in playing? Can you guys describe your experiences with these modules, because as it stands I'm planning on switching out Chapter 5 almost wholesale for Into the Nightmare Rift.
To provide a second opinion, 15 points is a very solid way to have characters with built-in weaknesses. 20 is also good for normal games, but keep in mind that 15 really forces players to pick and choose their stats. At twenty points, it becomes far easier to compensate for dumping one or two stats extremely low, at 15, a player with 18 in a desired stat (such as a wizard maxing INT at the cost of CHA or STR) has to really pay for it.
Your ability arrays as chosen are extremely high. Your cleric, for instance, has a point buy value of 38 points. While rolling is going to give a less uniform distribution of ability score, 38 points is far in excess of most core balance assumptions. For reference, most games are run between 15-25 point buy. If you're not going to use point buy, consider just using 4d6 drop lowest, unless you're deliberately going for a very high-powered campaign.
How do mythic abilities affect monsters? Do mythic dragons kick ass or do they generally need reinforcements? Do the monster mythic abilities significantly increase the ability to design "boss" encounters?
How trite. "If you have a positive attribute, that's because the system is helping you. If you have a negative attribute, that's your fault. If someone else succeeds, that's their virtue. If they fail, that's the systems fault."
Can we please stop the misery Olympics and simply treat other people with respect regardless of how ideologies opt to classify and divide them?
To me, at least, its about voting with your wallet. For instance, I subscribed because I was excited for Carrion Crown. I stayed subscribed because Jade Regent and Skull and Shackles were also to my taste. I unsubscribed because Shattered Star was the type of AP I wasn't particularly interested in; I wasn't going to renew my subscription for quite a while because neither RoW and WotR until I learned RoW had so much travel to new locations in it. That said, I'll unsubscribe after volume six.
Basically, whatever floats your boat, but I don't want to pay for an AP I don't like thematically.
Look into Ablative Barrier (lvl 2 spell). Though it doesn't let you cover for allies per se, it will help them increase their survability
Also, consider Bladed Dash (lvl 2 spell) so you can charge straight into the enemies and keep them away from your allies
Pilfering hand will disarm an enemy, which also helps with battlefield control
Besides that, the pit spells mentioned above are fantastic.
What is the rest of your party's composition? If you are the only melee, the rest of your team should have plenty of spells and abilities to hinder enemy movements...
Hello all, I'm currently playing a magus in a campaign. For better or worse, I'm the only melee character, and need some preventative means to defend the squishier ranged characters. Keeping myself alive isn't too great of a challenge, but are there any spells I can take with expanded study or items to invest in to guard my allies more effectively?
Hey Wes, any comment as to whether or not Xin-Shalast and other endgame Rise of the Runelords material will be in this book? I'd love to have a reference for my players who haven't experienced Golarion yet, but I'd hate to spoil the adventure path for them.
What exactly was changed between lite and full versions? I've been flipping through the .pdfs side by side and they seem identical barring that the normal one loads much slower.
I actually calculated the XP and switched to a 1.25x, rather than Slow's 1.5x modifier for levels. This keeps the PCs a little behind the advancement track, and ultimately makes combat harder by design, without overpowering the PCs so much.
I've done a bit of my own work on the CC AP to suit my own world. I've incorporated a ton of ideas from the forums that I really liked. I don't cite people by name, but lots of the ideas for changes show up on this forum.
A few brief notes before I do my outline:
1) This setting adds a lot of Western-style themes and advances the time period to near the 1800's in Earth terms. The gothic elements remain, but this Adventure Path was more Priest and Deadwood than it was Hammer Horror. Some of the trope subversion that came with this was a ton of fun to play with.
2) Keeping with the 1800's Western theme, there is a lot of Dragon Empires immigration, and I've set Ustalav north of the Dragon Empires, rather than the other side of the planet. This makes Caliphas much more akin to San Francisco, and the southern parts of Ustalav much more involved.
3) The action still revolves around Ustalav and the Whispering Way, I just elected to change up some of the areas and add a bit of my own spin to the AP.
4) Taint, from Oriental Adventures/Heroes of Horror also has a significant presence.
This is what I've got done pretty solidly so far. Everything after the beginning of Wake of the Watcher is much hazier.
Haunting of Harrowstone
-The adventure begins with the PCs arriving in town for the funeral as The Argentate Blades (Rival Guide) are leaving in pursuit of some quest or another. The Blades will serve as a counterpoint to the PCs and make appearances in multiple other adventures.
-Sergeant Dun (ToTB), Duristan Silbio Ariesir (BM), Kvalca Sain (BM), Madame Ivanja (EtCR), Horace Croon (WotW), Abraun Chalest (AaD), and Adivion Adrissant appear at the funeral to foreshadow the rest of the adventure path.
-Adivion Adrissant is with Kendra after the will reading but before the PCs leave, and they share a romantic engagement. Lorrimor forced Adivion to break off an engagement with Kendra when Adivion began researching means to contact the Whispering Way, and the two parted ways bitterly. Kendra plans on visiting Adrissant in Caliphas after the PCs have fulfilled the terms of her father's will. Advion will be a Bladebound magus wielding a swordcane, which he hobbles around on due to childhood injury. At this phase, he'll be portrayed as sickly, wealthy, and arrogant, but ultimately of little consequence beyond Kendra's paramour.
-Piper of Illmarsh didn't seem to have much merit, so he'll be the Piper of Ravenmoor now.
Trial of the Beast Part A
-Arc begins with PCs fighting Springheel Jack in skirmishes until the meet up with the Crooked Kin. Some members of the kin are actually the Night Harrows of the Rival Guide. The Harrows pretend to be mundane sideshow freaks, and use the Kin as a convenient excuse to travel the country performing errands for the Way.
-At the time of arrival in Lepidstadt, the theft of the Seastone Effigy hasn't yet occured. Dr. Crowl shows off his collection of antiquities, two items of which are plot significant: The Elder Talisman (Treasury of the Macabre) and the Seastone Effigy. Judge Daramid does her part, but informs the PCs to see Jeminda Anikee to collect their fee. Jeminda, of course, informs the PCs of her missing brother in law...
Feast of Ravenmoor
-Basically the same except the tax collector fled on the river to head south to Caliphas. Allegedly.
Trial of the Beast Part B
-As the PCs approach the town, they hear about the Beast's break-in at the university.
-Anikee pays the party their reward for the Ravenmoor expedition, and says she gave Daramid the fee to hold onto.
-Daramid gives the PCs a letter from Kendra. The letter tells the PCs she is very happy to explore the variety of Caliphas after the small-town of life of Ravengro. She says that Adivion will carry her letter for her, so Adivion is somewhere in the Lepidstadt area. Furthermore, the letter asks the PCs to go to Carrion Hill to collect a collection of books loaned to the Mayor, and says Adivion has her payment. The books are a collection of stories and books her father collected, and were often read to her as a child. Given Lorrimor's travels, he let the Mayor of Carrion Hill borrow them for his own children. Finally, Daramid tells the PCs to visit Crowl if they haven't done so already.
-Searches for Adivion turn up empty at this stage. If the PCs investigate, eventually they find out that Adivion traveled to Ascanor Lodge in the Shudderwood for relaxation. He bought a valuable and ancient ring while in Lepidstadt.
-Crowl gives his information as per normal Trial of the Beast, but laments the Beast has not been captured yet. With no other leads, the PCs head to...
Carrion Hill
-The Argentate Blades have also answered Mayor Heggry's call to arms. The PCs encounter them at the site above the Sunless Grove. The Argentate Blades serve as rivals in this adventure, albeit haughty and arrogant.
-The Whispering Way traded The Pnakotic Manuscripts for information from Crove regarding means and ways to barter with the skum of Illmarsh. Information hinting, but not explicitly stating this, can be found in Crove's journal in the Asylum.
Trial of the Beast Part C
-Adivion has returned to Lepidstadt before heading south. He'll pay PCs for Kendra's books and also vouch for their character at the trial. Other than this, the Trial of the Beast chapter proceeds as normal, except for stat adjustments.
-A Blightspawn, if it escaped in Ravenmoor, replaces the manticore during the investigation. It's obvious this one is different...
Broken Moon
-Estovion's paranoia builds slower. The PCs should spend about a week at the lodge investigating without appearing to. In reading the adventure, it felt like Estovion came too quickly into conflict with the PCs.
-Two groups ultimately flee the Stairway of the Moon: one group travels to Feldgrau, while the other travels to Barovia, a small, misty region in southern Odranto near Lozeri. The PCs learn of the Dark Rider to Barovia after slaying Auren Vrood.
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
-Strahd is an adherent of the Whispering Way.
1.) AA wants Strahd to raise an army of undead, but Strahd has become dangerous, complacent, and insane. AA wants Strahd to lead the vampires in Ashes at Dawn, if Strahd lives.
2.) If Strahd has to be removed to obtain an artifact (Dayheart) for Carrion Crown, WW will help kill Strahd.
3.) Hags want to take power over the region and raise cults.
4.) Barstoi wants to crush Odranto and Lozeri's control, and seize the province.
5.) Werewolves want to expand territory and depose Strahd for using them as a distraction. Seen as a breeding ground for the next tribal conflict.
-These factions aid or hinder the PCs, and will have significant impact on Ashes at Dawn and Shadows of Gallowspire.
-Vampires in service to Luvick Siervage also try and steal Strahd's research to cement their own power in Caliphas, which is becoming a huge source of conflict as vampire clans from the Dragon Empires are also trying to control the underworld. (Think of it as Mafia vs. Yakuza)
-The wilderness shrines are to Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, and Azathoth
-Vistani are Scarzni.
-Varikov the Trapper is an agent of the Way, sent to keep an eye out on Strahd. There's a few cultists, but the Dark Rider has already fled north to Sinaria. The PCs, however, will learn throughout the adventure via various NPCs that the Way wants Dayheart as part of the ritual to make the Carrion Crown, while Strahd is expendible, and a useful resource. Ideally, they can kill Strahd and destroy the Dayheart or prevent it from falling into the hands of the Way, forcing them to delay construction of the Carrion Crown.
And Madness Followed
-After dealing with Strahd and escaping Barovia, the PCs track the Dark Rider north to Sinaria. He's traded a copy of The Carcosa Codex for some item held by Sophia Lasilaran. Regardless, the PCs learn that they have delayed the completion of the Carrion Crown, and left the Way scrambling.
-Ardagh replaces Lamid. Karcau replaces Indar.
Works in Progress
-At some point, the PCs visit Caliphas and learn that The Ruby Phoenix Tournament will be being held in islands a short distance off Caliphas this year. The premise being that Carmilla Caliphvaso, Ruby of Caliphas, is attempting to buy into the similarity of ruby titles to raise funds and direct trade and tourism to Caliphas.
-Further information leads them to Illmarsh.
Wake of the Watcher
-Not sure what changes, if any, to make yet.
Ashes at Dawn Part A
-Ashes at Dawn begins normally, with the murders seen as a brutal method of killing from the South.
-Count Strahd has returned to the Court if he survived the Expedition.
-Throughout this adventure, the PCs not only have to prevent the Way-loyal vampires from overthrowing Siervage, but also the presence of the Southern vampires from brutally enforcing their will on Caliphas, as the Chiang-Shi have few compunctions about outright enslaving mortals.
-Adivion Adrissant appears at the Order of the Palatine Eye, trying to get an artifact of some sort from them. Although the PCs have probably figured out his relation to the Whispering Way, the environment and his engagement to Kendra prove problematic for merely executing him. If they haven't figured it out, they will in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament when he appears as the noble sponsor of the Night Harrows.
-PCs can use Galdana as a sponsor to fight in the Ruby Phoenix tournament.
Ruby Phoenix Tournament
-Happens concurrently with Ashes at Dawn as PCs investigate.
-Massive changes to NPC groups to increase challenge.
-Argentate Blades and PCs will actually fight here.
-If the Whispering Way's team wins, they will be able to kickstart the Carrion Crown and recover the loss of the Dayheart, or continue building it if the PCs lost it. The Night Harrows are the Whispering Way team, but decide to mock the PCs by forcing them to fight undead versions of the Argentate Blades in their stead. (This also prevents a TPK)
Ashes at Dawn Part B
-Adventure proceeds as normal, but Kendra, not Galdana is kidnapped.
Shadows of Gallowspire
-Adivion claims that since he married Kendra, he is a blood relative of the Whispering Tyrant and will now serve as his vessel.
Literary creatures like the pale stranger, jubjub bird, and bandersnatch (frumious variant included) are grew for use in your game!
What literary work is the pale stranger from? I thought it was based on Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider or High Plains Drifter? If there is a book featuring a pale stranger type of creature, I'd love to read it O.o
It has more of a "Priest" manwha feeling to me. (It rocks)
Is #1 more than making the action a little more obvious in the text (e.g., just like abilities now note in parens if they are supernatural/extraordinary/etc, they would also note if they were a free/swift/move/standard action), or is there more to it than that? It seems like PFRPG already has the same set of actions as 4e, it's just a little more difficult to locate in the text.
Unless otherwise noted, a special attack or ability requires a standard action, with an aura of constant effect being an apparent exception.
What inspires you as a GM when you write your adventures? For me, I do generate a lot of my own content inspired by stuff, but I recently had an idea for an adventure which combines Black Swan and the King in Yellow. I even considered a punny tagline: "A dancer seeks a way to break into the big time on the stage, but instead tears a hole in reality."
Like, I'm a horror-based GM, particularly the psychological aspects of it. If I can make the players at least relate to their character's fear, I consider it a good adventure.
A thousand times this. It's not that I'd discourage people from going to these lengths, I'd just like to improve and expand what we have available now before making the leap to the next big thing. Sort of like Foundation.
I guess my personal issue comes with the fact that while yes, most content is aimed at the sub-15/10 levelset, there's just not enough adventure material available between 15-20 to really justify expanding the ruleset up to 40 or so. While yes, you can be big damn heroes, I don't want Paizo to fall into the trap of diluting the areas they can aim products. If high level play sub 20 had enough content, then maybe they could expand it it a big. But right now I'm still waiting on a high level module beyond Witchwar Legacy.
I mean, maybe this is just me. But what's the appeal of high level play beyond 20th? At 17th or so things begin getting to the point you really have to adjudicate things on the fly because the PCs have such a high aggregate power compared to what you can throw at them.
Yes, it's cool to say your character is the stompiest of the stompy, but at level 20 there's very few obstacles (barring you playing Forgotten Realms) to doing as you please.
A simple solution is that chemistry works fundamentally differently in a world where magic functions; or perhaps the Alchemist merely transmutes certain components into nearby elements using his formula, triggering a cascading change into the desired mixture using magic.
This sounds really cool. I for one would love to see an extended line on cinema plots applied to Pathfinder. While Paizo does a great job at adapting material from seemingly anywhere it exists, I'd love to see dedicated stuff based on cinematics and old movies.
<Specan're Players please divert your attentions. ;)>
I support your idea of taking ideas and using them to suit your needs, and here's why: Pathfinder Chronicles is easily the best setting I've ever read, simply because it takes elements common to other fantasy settings and twists them just enough so they're original, which is what makes it so useful...And I recommend the same for you, and have some ideas for what I did to my setting to do so.
But as far as my own campaign setting goes:
At the start of each campaign I write a primer, depending on how the world changes between campaigns, featuring relevant game and fluff information by race and class. To that end, mixing crunch and fluff seems to deliver both to players in an efficient fashion. IE, if they understand that the reason their spellcaster has a reduced threshold for higher magic spells due to an Old God surfacing on their material world, and that magic functions through leylines, they seem to accept the mechanics behind it.
That's my primary advice to you: Make your mechanics and fluff be reasonable in context of the game world rather than Earth.
Throughout the Campaign I namedrop locations or characters without giving the players a fullset of information about the world around them; that gives me freedom to modify things on the fly, and be consistent without having to go off a complete hardback ruleset. To that end, you have to drive the story around the players. While a war may be going on elsewhere, and the player's want to get involved, hook a reason why their characters would want to go there into your primary goal, so you don't have to rewrite your plans for the night too greatly and you have time to prep a session the players want to do.
But as far as the actual regions/modifications I'm running (in the next version of my campaign, anyway.)
The Central Idea:
Specan're is very much a mixed setting, but it panders to wuxia films, steampunk, and horror. As such, it borrows from Eberron, Rokugan, Golarion, Ravenloft, Iron Kingdoms, Bas-Lag, and other such sources pretty heavily in idea if not name. There's a little bit of Dark Matter and 1984 in there too.
Core Races:
-Human, Gnome, Dwarf. That's it. Humans and Gnomes are largely unchanged from Pathfinder: The idea of a fey race for gnomes was honestly refreshing from the standard halfling/dwarf wannabe or tinker gnome variant.
Dwarves: I like dwarves quite a bit, particularly that heavy loads don't encumber them (ie Armor) I extrapolated this a bit and made them common miners and so forth, but without a lot of culture on their own. Flavorwise, changing their racial dodge bonus with "Warding Spirits" representing spirits that alert them to harm and allow them to quickly dodge.
"Lifted" Races:
-Wood Elves, Ghost Elves, Trow (Based on Trollkin from Iron Kingdoms), Selk (Selkies from FF:Crystal Chronicles), Scarecrows (Warforged), Nezumi (Rokugan).
Elves: I've never really liked the natural/arcane elf distinction that seems really prevalent or mixed. (There's also no Drow, because why would I like them?) Instead, Wood Elves represent spring and summer, and have horns Ala Midsummer Night's Dream or Lorwyn. Ghost Elves represent Winter and Fall. As such, the wood elves are well-built, strong, and attractive, but are fanciful and not too bright, whereas the Ghost Elves are pale, conniving, and have powers that let them fade in and out of reality.
Trow/Trollkin: I really liked the idea of trolls being bridge-focused monsters and not wandering brutes. The Trow are a combination of the Scandanivian myths of Beowulf, the actual Trow from welsh mythology (which in turn lets me extend Robert E. Howard's Pict mythology to their long-integrated culture), and the voodoo trolls from Warcraft. They function in an Imperial society as taste testers and weapons-dummies, being able to regenerate fairly quickly.
Scarecrows/Warforged: I really liked the warforged concept, but didn't like the idea of a race being essentially fabricated and whose sentience amounts to GM fiat. Instead, the scarecrows use warforged traits, but are representative of a planar event which sparked life into constructed items in a farm-belt region. The scarecrows were the most humanoid, and therefore obtained the greatest sentience. (Plus it has a darker underlying conspiracy in that they're essentially a possessing, unborn spirit manipulating objects with positive energy.)
Selk/Selkies: Selkies in FF:CC are the fastest, most agile race, and have just enough weird tendencies as a culture to make an interesting race as humanoids who long ago formed pacts with beasts. While relatively human in appearance, they have an innate ability to communicate with animals and are incredibly agile and fast, so they're a little bit shifter, a little bit human, and a little bit something else.
Nezumi: Nezumi are basically fine as is and were generally lifted wholesale from Rokugan.
Other Races:
-Aventi, Mothran, Xeph
Aventi are as gillmen from Golarion. A while back, I made the innsmouth connection as a source for their powers, but seeing it used to great effect in
Movie plot spoiler:
Shore to Sea/Wake of the Watcher
made the choice obvious.
Mothran: Are essentially player character versions of Mothman from the Bestiary 2, much toned down with an innate attraction towards bright lights...They're also the original vampires, as their vampiric curse manifests as mosquito forms...nasty.
Xeph: Xeph are largely modified to be reptillian offshoots of humanity that live beneath the earth. Shamelessly adapted from "Worms of the Earth."
Regions:
To keep it simple, I've only got five areas that I can further subdivide when I want to introduce new material:
Ikai-Hiren: The Oriental analogue, people are controlled through a strict caste system, each of the domains of the country are representative of a pseudo-Asian real life culture.
Vyte: Eastern Europe analogue, with magical communism and necromancy run rampant.
Steam Baronies: Western Europe/US analogue, heavy emphasis on the virtues and villains created by a purely capitalistic plutocracy.
Calicaeseri: A sand and sandals styled country in the throes of a civil war between theocrats and oligarchs.
Bleaklands: Burnt out wasteland in the middle region of the four countries where taint, magical abominations, and other horrors lurk. (IE Shadowlands, Mournland, and the Withering Wastes combined and taken to 11)
If you're more interested, feel free to hit me up. I've got a lot of adapted ideas you're free to utilize.
To utilize one of my favorite books as an example, Perdido Street Station handles "adventurers" pretty well: In most cities, you're going to be seen of as out of place in all your armor and weapons, to the point that most bystanders are going to gawk at your myriad of gear.
To you, it's normal, but for most, it's unusual, and the guard is probably going to look on you with suspicion...but there's always room for adventurers that aren't careless with how they deal with the law.
So a 20th level Ranger with GVS is going to add his Favored Enemy Bonus 4 times to a single attack? I'm not saying that as a bad thing, I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.
Augh. Yeah RAW that's what it would mean. That's the sketchy one. Like, I feel that when you get VS up to that level, you should either be able to drop a fast one, or when you use your standard action to do it, it should provide a pretty solid benefit. But for a Rogue 20, that's +40d6 damage (Avg 140) which isn't too dangerously high or low considering some other classes can pull that off without having to be in melee range with a CR20 creature. I like my ideas, but for GVS someone can obviously make it more balanced.
Vital Strike: Standard action, scales with base attacks.
Improved Vital Strike: Lets you replace one melee attack/round with vital strike, so you can now use it with spring attack and it encourages people to take the second one. The exception of course is that you shouldn't be able to use it in a full attack.
Greater Vital Strike: When you use VS as a standard action, it adds modifiers as if you had made that many attacks, essentially an all or nothing hit at the cost of some additional hits.
Two-Weapon Fighting: Grants the actual attacks, scaling with level, but only applies additional modifiers on your first mainhand and offhand attack.
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: Extends benefits to secondary attacks, reduce dual wield penalties by 2.
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting: Extends benefits to tertiary attacks, grant +2 bonus when fighting with a weapon in each hand.
For sake of argument, modifiers refers to things you tack on to each attack, such as Sneak Attack, extra weapon damage from magic, a ranger's favored enemy bonus, etc.
UPDATE: This is the LONGEST adventure path module by far. We have been on this module twice as long as any other AP in the series. Very fun, but it maybe could have been broken into two.
I have to say, this adventure path is probably the most fun of all of the Skull and Shackles Adventure paths to date.
The PC's have a solid mission and have a great motivation to seek out and complete each of this module's challenges. The AP starts with the Pirates gaining status and being able to take part diplomatically in pirate matters in the Shackles. The mechanics for this arrangement work well, and the case being made for each is interesting to Role Play. A page with all of the NPC portraits on one page would have added visual props.
The onus on the PC's to build a fleet is exciting, although the amount of money the Pirates need as opposed to what they have found across the last four modules is insufficient. I luckily read ahead and planted some extra plunder among the various wreckage's on the Island of Empty Eyes. The pirates COULD just spend a couple of weeks grinding away on pirate ship encounters from module one and two, but that tends to be anti-climatic and the group would rather do new stuff.
The quests and places for adventure are well thought out, difficult and exciting. The various challenges and the rewards for completing each give a sense of accomplishment. There is also some final closure to the PC's longstanding rivalry with a competing free captain of the Shackles.
The overarching storyline about warring nations is almost not needed in the AP as it adds little in the way of motivation for pirates, they could have had the rivalry be somewhat more local instead of geopolitical.
That aside, the adventure path is outstanding and the players are having a blast with it. They are excited to finish up in module 6.
I may be biased in my review due to a major plot item interacting perfectly with my particular campaign and characters, but nonetheless I feel the need to give the AP 5 stars.
The premise is the only somewhat shaky leg of the AP, and the players are kind of like "we have to prove ourselves AGAIN?!" That sentiment is quickly discarded however as the adventure gets underway. Meanwhile the addition of cyclopes as a major element is welcome; it is nice to see classical fantasy elements included in an AP, and their inclusion on the cover and back indicate that they are a major part of the AP.
The tragic NPC and his/her dilemma sets my PC's up perfectly and the ultimate plot payoff can differ somewhat from the AP in my campaign depending upon what the affected PC decides to do with the clues given. The maps included are detailed and I would like a flip mat of the ultimate ruins included in the AP. I was going to enlarge the map to 1":5' scale and print it in tiles on the printer but it ended up being over 120 pages!!! Using that much printer paper and spending that much time taping the sheets together would be cost/time prohibitive. Not to mention the file becomes cumbersome when enlarged to 90x126. Would the market be large enough to support a flip mat? I am not so sure. A printed paper map poster possibly. $9.99??
I like this AP and liked how it flowed coherently from start to finish. Tempest Rising, while excellently written and intriguing was jumbled up somewhat, not gaining its sea-legs until act 3. Isle of empty eyes flows smoothly from start to finish and very little GM work is required to make this AP fun and exciting.
I purchased this to help flesh out the individual isles in the Skull and Shackles Adventure path. I was happy that the writing encompassed the isles, but unfortunately there are NO maps of the isles in the gazetteer. A gazetteer without some maps is like a pirate ship without a crew. The Inner Sea World Guide is how each campaign setting supplement should be written. Yes, making maps of the isles and of the major ports of call is tedious; however once the work is accomplished, it is done forever and the world gets more detailed and more fleshed out. If it is too difficult to map from scratch, use Google maps to overlay existing locales on Earth like the Marshall Islands, and illustrate the overlay into a map for the guide.
I really don't need more monsters. Between the Bestiaries, the AP's and the campaign settings, we are being overwhelmed by monsters. Save those monsters for the AP's or for campaign specific bestiaries and flesh out the campaign resources with more MAPS.
This adventure is pretty fun for my players right now, but the hodge-podge of clues and intrigue points starts to make running the adventure somewhat tedious.
I propose that Paizo include one page in each adventure path that details all of the plot progression points in a flow chart, or plot circle fashion so the GM can easily track the plot and can navigate the adventure without having to jump around in the book randomly to try set up his/her own plot flow chart.
I think this simple inclusion would make Tempest rising and other adventure paths more exciting to run and less tedious for GMs
[update 2/7/2013] The players finished this AP. The beginning portion of the AP was basically skipped over due to the fact that the contests and the whole setup felt somewhat contrived with a nobody orc insinuating himself into the pirate's lives. The second part of the AP was the most difficult as it was a large intrigue involving many NPC's and locales. I purchased the Isles of the Shackles supplement to augment the locales with hopefully some visuals (maps of the ports of call) but was disappointed that it didn't contain island maps I needed to make the locales come to life.
The AP picked up noticeably towards the end with the regatta, and the players were noticeably more excited to get involved in a seafaring adventure at the end of the AP. The way scoring was done worked well and the introduction of the PC's nemesis gave them some motivation.
Overall, I would have liked to have seen the locales fleshed out more. The inner sea world guide is replete with maps of each locale in the book and the middle part of the adventure would have been better served by having some visual aides.
The Good: The adventurers have a nice mix of shipboard life, land-lubbing autonomy, and the NPC's detailed are fleshed out nicely and really come to life.
The Bad: The endless days upon ship splitting up tasks amongst four players can get tedious and drag on as each gets multiple interaction (separate....DON'T SPLIT THE PARTY)opportunities every day.
The Ugly: Some NPC's weren't fleshed out at all, and so it was hard to divert PC attention from some of the key crew members. Exploring the ship stealthily seemed a little contrived and farfetched for my taste.
The Wormwood Mutiny is a fun way to get the characters into the pirate way of life. I agree with the press-gang mentality of the adventure, and I basically started the PC's with little to nothing in the way of gear and everything they got was scrounged up.
There wasn't enough info on the Wormwood's magic user, Longfarthing, but the rest of the PC's were pretty well fleshed out.
The end scene was a little too much Roger-Rabbit for my likes and I had to modify the ending somewhat to make due in the interest of time.
I wasn't much of a fan with the dynamic of sneaking around the ship, it seems a little too contrived and with no where to go, anyone stealing something could be caught with a full ship health-and-welfare inspection. Also the number of days spent on sea had to be compressed somewhat as 17-odd days of doing the tasks and having each player in their own little world interacting with PC's can make for very loooong drawn out gaming sessions.
Overall I think the adventure went well and the party was excited to exact their revenge upon Plugg and Scourge, the fact that the players had such enmity against the antagonists means that the press-ganging and pirate justice had the desired effect. These NPC's were not just regarded with the usual apathy that villains usually engender.
