Ogre_Bane's page

I drew up a outline for this event. I even added a couple more events so the ones listed would not need to be repeated. I can email it if you want.

Send me a request at: ogre_bane(at)hotmail(dot)com

I found that a simple fly and resist fire made most of the non-combat events easy. I would increase the needed points in each area to actually make this a challenge.

UPDATE:

[u]Current Group (all 16th level PCs):[/u]
Male Human Archivist (original member)
Female Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Hammer of Moradin (original member)
Male Elf Warmage (original member)
Male Halfling Rogue/Fighter/Invisible Blade (original member)
Male Human Warlock/Wizard
Male Halfling Druid/Wildshaper/Warshaper

[u]Deaths:[/u]
Original Scout (level 2) dies to a lucky crit by Kazmojen from his axe (35+ dmg to a level 2 PC...ouch). First death for this PC. Brings a new PC.

Fighter (old PC) is captured by Orbius because he's a Shackleborn (player had to leave the group due to real life issues).

Many "almost deaths" to the brutal Aushuana.

Replacement Scout/Dervish/Fighter (level 13) dies to getting owned by the broken Nabathatoron in Demonskar Legacy. 2nd PC death for this PC. Quits group frustrated with lethality of campaign, but later returns.

Archivist dies to a slay living spell (rolls a "1") cast by a evil cleric on Occipitus during The Smoking Eye. 1st death for this PC. Raised by Nidrama.

Warmage is disintergrated by the naga. 1st death for this PC. Resurrected.

Both warmage and bard/wizard/sublime chord (new player to replace fighter) are disintergrated by Orbius in a brutal battle. 2nd death for warmage, 1st death for bard. Bard is replaced by warlock/wizard and warmage is resurrected...again.

Warmage is avasculated and then a quickened orb of force finishes him off against a tough battle with 8 flamewarders, the Ti'rok and Freija. All other PCs make it out alive, but Freija escapes. 3rd death for this PC. Nidrama raises him.

Delvesdeep,

You're gonna have a heck of a time during Foundations of Flame and 13 Cages then. There's basically 1 day, probably less, between the adventures. Not nearly enough time for your system. Also, how do you handle when PCs are supposed to level during the middle of a chapter? Do they drop everything and go "learn" their skills? Or do they just push on, without the newest of their abilities?

My party of 6 only has Nidrama with them (which is great, with constant aid, prayer, death ward and neutralize poison at will). The archivist is a thama-something or other (focuses on summoning outsiders), so he got Nidrama as his planar ally cohort.

Be sure you balance Dhor by his ECL, not his CR. He's probably around a 15-18th level character, so he'll require a lot of work.

This is a great idea. I don't have anyone with the Dream Haunted trait, but I do have a character with the Scarred Soul trait, and I think I can use his dreams to do some foreshadowing. Anyone have any good ideas for how to introduce the smoking eye into one of his dreams?

Ya check out the RPGenius site for the SCAP... I posted 3 or 4 sample dreams that featured the Smoking Eye.

I second the #1 tip about printing out stat blocks from the dreaded Appendix 4.

I scanned the Appendix 4 and are cutting and printing the monsters from the scanned pages into a few chapter-specific pages with broad margins. I feel that it's well worth the effort.

/ Henning

I rewrote every single stat block needed in the campaign on 5x7 note cards. It's worked out great. A bit tedius to do every single creature (including not only the Appendix but also everything from the MM) but it's one of the things I enjoy as a DM. It also makes me really know each and every NPC and monster... I'd be good at Monster Manual trivia! ;-)

Anyways with the note cards, initiative and combat are a breeze, so it's worth it.

D) From a players perspective I would say the best thing I did was weave each PC's backstory into the campaign. For example one PC wrote in his backstory about an exgirlfriend who broke his heart. She became the obsessive/cumpulsive cagewright in foundation of flame. The PC sorcerer set out to be a dragon disciple from the very begining and wrote the history of having a bronze dragon in his liniage, well I also gave him a secret black dragon heritage that was finally revealed when his uncle showed up as the 1/2 blackdragon in the street fight in cauldron. Now at 19th level my players count these as some of their most memorable moments because they were personal. That's why Tip B is probably the most important.

Ditto on this. I made it important to fit each of the characters back stories into the campaign. It really made them feel like they were part of the campaign and world... Especially in a long campaign such as the SCAP, it's important for the players to feel important and that their actions are actually doing something.

Well I've always thought that the "Ghosts of Aniel" adventure from the WotC website would be a great throw in for the Haunted Village. I'd provide the link to you, but unfortunately the WotC site seems to be down at the moment...

Pretty sure the adventure is called "The Ghosts of Aniel." Just look around for it in the adventure section. It's made for 5th level parties, but I remember it being pretty easy to change around.

1. Action points. If you're at all worried about constant TPK's and character deaths, use these. They have saved my game from bad-luck TPKs a few times. However, I feel you get too many of them at higher levels (espeically with the fast-paced leveling in chapters 8, 9 and 10). I would reduce the total number of action points gained at each level to be half of what is suggested in the Eberron Campaign setting and Unearthed Arcana.

2. The Smoking Eye. If you don't forshadow the importance of this, the chapter will seem completely useless and out of place to the characters. Im my campaign, I constantly threw out statements and teasers on how the Smoking Eye was important with a character that had the Dream Haunted trait (fit very well). If you don't plan on using or showing the importance of the Smoking Eye, get rid of the chapter and throw something else in.

Great write ups Ogre_Bane. You wrote them up quick!

Glad you liked the ideas and your own Potion Shop event is fantastic also. I'll definiantly be using them in my campaign.

Don't forget to post them up on the RPGenius.com site in case I lose the version I'm saving now.

Delvesdeep

Thanks! Just uploaded it now to the RPGenius site. I also made an entire events breakdown for the chapter in an identical format as seen here. It also includes a section to keep track of the total Evacuation Points earned in each city section.

Thanks for the help!

And one more....

Event 50: Arcane Explosion (EL 11)
Location: Weer’s Elixirs; Southeast Section
Volcanic Hazard(s): Tremor (10%), Building Collapse (5%, +1% for each cumulative round)
Time Element: 2 minutes
Enemies: None
Number of Citizens: 1; Weer
Citizen Aid: 1d6 for each DC 20 Diplomacy check; Search check modifier (-1); Will help carry out Volatile Potions
Goal(s): (1) The party must carry out all Volatile Potions from the burning building before they explode in a devastating fire
Evacuation Award: 11; 5 if the potion shop explodes but the fire is contained; 0 if the potion shop explodes and the fire is not contained.
Description: Weer’s Elixir shop has caught fire and he is afraid that the Volatile Potions held within will explode, causing a massive fire that could spread throughout the rest of the city. The party must locate the hidden elixirs and carry them out before the building collapses and the area catches fire. Fire reaches the Volatile Potions in 2 minutes.

There are a total of 12 Volatile Potion crates throughout the building. To locate 1, it requires a DC 15 Search check. For each 10 points the check exceeds 15, an additional crate is located. It requires two rounds to lift and remove a crate from the building.

The building is already weakened by the fire damage it has sustained and is in risk of collapsing each round there is a tremor. For each round there is a tremor, there is a 5% chance the entire building collapses, causing the Volatile Potions to explode. For each additional round a tremor occurs, the chance the building collapses increases by 1%.

If the building collapses or the Volatile Potions catch fire, they explode 1 round later, causing 10d6 fire damage (Reflex DC 17 half) to all within 30 feet and setting fire to anything combustible or that failed a Reflex Save. This has the additional effect of setting fire to surrounding buildings (see Event 37 for fire dangers).

I'm just wondering if anyone has an approximate time it takes to get to parts of the city? What if the party is all flying?

I need this to keep track of buff spells during the various rescue missions all over Cauldron during "Foundations of Flame."

Or if this is described in the SCHC someplace and I missed it, that would be great too!

And another....

Event 49: St. Cuthbert’s Fall (EL 14)
Location: Church of St. Cuthbert
Volcanic Hazard(s): Tremor (20%), Building Collapse (5%, +1% for each cumulative round)
Time Element: None
Enemies: (4) Last Laugh Harlequins, (6) Last Laugh Thugs
Number of Citizens: Jenya
Citizen Aid: None
Goal(s): (1) Rescue Jenya from the Last Laugh assassins; (2) Recover the Star of Justice; (3) Get out before the building collapses.
Evacuation Award: 14; 7 if the Star of Justice is not recovered; 0 if Jenya dies
Description: Using the disaster in Cauldron as a distraction, the Last Laugh guild sends some assassins to kill Jenya and recover the Star of Justice, giving a mighty blow to the party’s reputation and resources. Jenya has trapped herself inside a room in the church and it getting ready to fend off the assassins just as the party enters. One assassin is working to open the lock on Jenya’s door (DC 25 Open Lock check) and requires a full round action to open it. The Main Assassin’s Open Lock check is +14 instead of the normal +5. The others attempt to fend off the party while the main assassin goes after Jenya. Jenya has the Star of Justice on her, and should it fall in the Guild’s hands, it could be devastating to the plans of the party.

Worse yet, the church structure has been compromised by the continuous tremors. Each round there is a tremor, there is a 5% chance the entire building collapses. For each additional round a tremor occurs, the chance the building collapses increases by 1%.

Thanks again guys!

Thanks for the great responses guys. I took a couple of them and turned them into some additional events for those that may want to use them also (the gate idea was frickin' awesome):

Event 48: Enemy at the Gate (EL 16)
Location: City gates
Volcanic Hazard(s): Tremor (10%), Yawning Fissure (5%), Steam Vent (5%), Gas Vent (5%), Lava Vent (10%)
Time Element: None
Enemies: (2) Kelubar Demodands, (3) Farastu Demodands
Number of Citizens: 0
Citizen Aid: 1d6 for each DC 20 Diplomacy check; Aid another action to assist in opening the gate (Strength modifier +1).
Goal(s): (1) Slay the demodands guarding the gate; (2) Reopen the gate to allow the citizens to escape
Evacuation Award: 16; 8 if the gate is not reopened
Description: A group of demodands have taken over a main city gate, preventing scared citizens from escaping the city. The party must slay the demodand guardians and then reopen the gate. The gate has been stuck shut, requiring a DC 35 Strength check in order to open it again. For each PC that makes a DC 20 Diplomacy check, they can gain the aid of 1d6 citizens to assist in the Strength check to reopen the gate. A total of 12 people can attempt to repopen the gate.

The number of demodands may be too much for some parties, but mine is pretty uber, so I'm not worried about them. The percent numbers by each Volcanic Hazard is the chance that a Hazard happens each round.

Hey everyone,

My group is about to finish "Lords of Oblivion" tomorrow (Sunday the 3rd). I've searched the archives for the boards on info for "Foundations of Flame." Found some really great stuff in there and I've prepped a lot of stuff in the advance. The only thing I'm really looking for is some additional events and/or Volcanic Hazards for the night. The book suggests running the events more than once to make sure the party gets enough xp/evacuation points to clear Cauldron, but I'd like not to have to do that.

So far, I plan on having the Meeting of the Minds section to take place in the Malachite Fortress (since a prominent dwarf PC has been working hard to get the fortress back and in business). The attack by the psycho derro will then take place in there as well as a couple Volcanic Hazards to get the group running for the top to save the rest of the city. I plan on making the dwarves assist quite a bit in rescuing the citizens, building on the joint relationship between Cauldron and the Fortress.

Any other volcanic hazards or events people used to add some spice to and already great Chapter?

Hi everyone.

I've been working on some Cagewright foreshadowing changes in the adventures, and one of them was having Shilsen move to Cauldron. I know this because I have a big sticky note in my book. I also know that I did this because someone here had a great idea that somehow required this. What I don't have is any clear recollection as to what is was. Does anyone remember this? Perhaps the proud originator of the idea will point me in the right direction? Thanks, all!

~Qualidar~

Who's "Shilsen"?

Do you mean "Shensen," the female half-drow druid?
Or maybe Shebelth, the Cagewright cleric?

I don't know of whom you speak.

Not a problem for Vhal, infact it will play into his hands. His paralysing spit is an extraordinary ability and is thus unaffected by the antimagic. Thus the bard/sorcerer will find himself making a save without his beautiful save boost magic items.

On the matter of the variant beholder. I really like it, the problem is you then need to explain why Thrifane has an inflict wounds grafted on her forehead, why there are so many petrified statues around and why the doors require spells like charm monster and finger of death.

Thanks I forgot about the paralyzing spit.

I plan on having a tome called the Arcanus Beholdrin in the same area they party find the tome that Vhal used to give himself the tarterian template. It will be basically a way to transform a beholder into a "Arcane Beholder" that will explain his newfound powers.

My group has just invaded House Vhalantru and highly suspects he is a beholder. To that effects, the bard/sorcerer in the group has taken antimagic field as his next spell and is planning on using it walking all through the house and dungeon below. They already fought the tarterian gauths and kicked their butts with the antimagic field. Now I'm a bit worried that they'll encounter Vhal with the antimagic field and make it a cheesy and very anti-climatic battle.

Any suggestions on what to do?

I'm already planning on making the Oblivion doors throughout the dungeon become totally inert while in a antimagic field, so they can not open the door at all.

Anything else that may help?

Also important to note that I'm using the new variant beholder put up at the WotC site...
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20061028a

I'm with Ogre Bane on this one. I level the characters when I think they should, using the intro of each chapter as a guide. It takes a lot of the hassle out of DMing and focuses the players on roleplaying and alternative thinking. What about xp for spells, item creation etc? I still give out xp for fights but it's not called xp, its called Hero Points and they can use these for spell costs, item creation costs etc. Any character can use them like action points except 1,000 hero points = 1 action point.

Ya it has been a lot easier. I use a system where we convert the cost of xp for making items into an extra monetary cost. It's not much of a problem because no one crafts anything, but the archivist is a thamatgurist (sp?) and he uses xp to summon Nidrama as an ally. I just make him pay more cash.

Several of the adventures are like this. Check out TotSE too. I've gotten to the point now of just letting party members know when they hit another level. The SCHC gives small intros into each Chapter and says what level they're supposed to be. So I just go off that.

Did anyone see that WotC article on beholders, when they changed a lot of the beholder powers? I really liked the changes. Here's the link:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20061028a

OK, I've failed my spot check. In Thifirane's stat block it notes that she has already cast mord's private sanctum, but *where* did she cast it? At house Rhiavadi or House Vhalantru?

Thanks.

I'd assume just before she starts her meeting with the evil mercenaries. That'd give them the privacy they need.

Personally, I re-do all the spell lists for important NPCs to include other sources, like the Spell Compendium and PHB2. Using just PHB spells against a party with many splat book spells to choose from really makes the NPCs suck.

I would actually like to see the messageboards split in half to represent a DM / Players split.

Is this really even a resource for players? I mean... the vast majority of people here are looking for help running the SCAP. Personally, I think that any player that comes to these boards is looking for trouble.

Updated party list for me too.... Everyone's 13th level, about to ding 14th and invade House Vhalantru and Oblivion.

Male Human Archivist
Male Elf Warmage
Male Halfling Rogue/Fighter/Invisible Blade
Male Human Marshal/Bard/Sublime Chord
Male Human Duskblade
Female Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Hammer of Moradin

The archivist, warmage, rogue and Paladin have been characters since the beginning. Pretty darn good to have survived this long.

Michael Brisbois wrote:

The last two paths have ranged far and wide in terms of travel and have dealt with a very grandiose and/or cosmic themes. Why not have an adventure path that revolved around a place, preferably a small community.

Based on our discussions to date, my gut tells me that this is where we're headed.

--Erik

Perhaps a campaign based completely in one city? Using many things from the new "Cityscape" coming out? That could be interesting....

Well I'll throw my thoughts in. I don't know if this has been covered already (way to many posts to read at my lunch break), but what about a dragon war? Metallic vs. Chromatic? Throw in a bunch of planar dragons? The psionic gem dragons too...?

Now I'm not one for a lot of dragon encounters (in fact, I complained about the "too many" in SCAP quite a bit), but you can use dragon-related monsters. Maybe use all those Tiamat spawn things from the MM4 and other new supplements. Just have the dragons be the major battles. Heck, even make the main bad guys powerful, weird versions of dragons (how many templates can a dragon have?).

I, for one, would love an Underdark Adventure. I haven't quite outgrown my love-for-drow just yet, so bring them on! Even a certain drow-ranger.... ;-)

At this point, if we go back to do anything more with Age of Worms, it's gonna be for a hardcover compilation. And since WotC hasn't given us the go-ahead to start that yet... there's probably not going to be much more with Age of Worms from Paizo anytime soon.

:throws furniture around the room in a mad fit of rage:

Make them understand JJ.

Please.

Make this happen.

Tailor specific individuals to be important to the individual characters in some way.

You also run into the problem of needing the characters to live in order to push the story forward. This was a problem I ran into.... I had an archivist character that had major involvement with the "Smoking Eye." However....he gets hit with a death spell and rolls a "1" for the same. Suddenly the party is like, "well since he's dead, why are we here in Occipitus anyways? We don't care about the smoking eye." Needless to say, I had Nidrama come in and raise him, which felt a bit forced,.

buddhaSMASH wrote:

I kept hearing about the overuse of dragons in Shackled City. ... So which chapters have dragons in them?

Zenith Trajectory has two, Black (Dorlot) and Red (Gottrod).

Test of the Smoking Eye, has a dragon encounter in the Abyss (could be a potentail random encounter).

Secrets of the Soul Pillars has a Dracolich IIRC. (this could be reversed with Smoking Eye, can't remember without my book)

Foundation of Flame has Hookface (Red Dragon) and deep down in the volcano there is another Dragon with disintegration breath weapon (can't remember the type).

One of the chapters has a half-dragon minotaur with a spiked chain that comes to challenge the players over his father Dhorlot's death or somesuch. Could be an RP encounter, but still a dragon themed one.

That's all I can recall without a book before me,
-C

I got rid of Gottrod (red dragon with Crazy Jared) but kept in Dhorlot, since the black dragon was working with the kuo toa in "Zenith Trajectory".

Got rid of the black dragon in the Abyss. Kind of lame anyways.... I did keep the half-dragon minotaur fighter (he was pretty cool) and used him as an assassin for the Temple of Wee Jas.

I changed Vittriss Bale (the green dracolich in "Secrets of the Soul Pillars") and made him a corrupted/tainted tome dragon (from a recent Dragon Magazine article). I also made him more of a roleplaying encounter with the party than a fight. Granted, he will eventually betray and attack them, but they won't be prepared for it.

Going to keep Hookface since I think trying to save a city from a volcanic disaster *plus* fighting a pissed off, grumpy red dragon will be a blast.

The dragon with the disentergrating breath weapon in the Firy Chasm is a pyroclastic dragon...a planar dragon. I think the encounter is pretty well done and looks very challenging, so I'm keeping him. However, I did change his breath weapon to match the damage of a disintergrate spell. A "save-or-die" breath weapon is no fun at all, especially with all the death spells thrown at a party at high level.

My personal belief is that a dragon encounter should never be a "random encounter." Dragons are extremely tough enemies and very smart. They are always well prepared and highly intelligent, and their encounters/combats should reflect that.

Do you think it is worth my time to write up more chapters for Skies (beyond 5th level)?

YES PLEASE!!! I loved those pre-made lists of magic items. My party did too, as they loved the little tid-bits of history.

Should I create a new location to purchase magical items in Sasserine for my party?

I'm using Sasserine and Greyhawk now for magic item purchases. I don't really think Skye could keep up with high level parties.

Where does your party purchase magical items in the later chapters of the path?

See above.

Delves, those lists of pre-made magic items were great. If you could do some more of them, you'd make me (and many other lazy DM's) VERY happy people.

My player has gotten really far behind as we're about to finish "Secrets of the Soul Pillars." Still fun to see it though.

Shackled City Campaign

The party knew they were looking for a vampire. One of the party members hired a sage to translate the goblin from the vandalized sites, and "Drakthar is dead. Long live Drakthar!" coupled with "Drakthar has bat ears" really gave it away. I wouldn't let the party look up how to kill a vampire, but they knew silver through the heart and chopping off its head from Dracula and folklore and what not, and then the holy water only made sense to them. Burning it was really just the rogue wanting to do something to the body as well.

This is really a situation of player knowledge vs. character knowledge. Sure the players know to cut off a vampire's head or stab him through the heart from watching Buffy, Angel and the countless Dracula movies, but the characters might not have known this (without a relevant Knowledge [religion] check, of course).

And "bat ears" really describes bugbears more than "vampires."

-- hey James, you think Dungeon would be interested in a query with 50 divination riddles? ;>

Ohhh. I like this idea a lot.

I went (or rather, am going) with a different route. The SCAPHC says that the Soul Pillars contain vast amounts of arcane knowledge and lore, so I'm going to use them to incorporate some cross-campaign setting spells and feats. I'm playing the SCAP in Greyhawk and am going to give my players (mainly my archivist, war mage and bard players) access to spells from Eberron, Forgotten Realms and Dragon magazine. I will make a list of course, not giving free reign to any thing they want.

My archivist player has un-godly knowledge checks and the party has figured out pretty much everything but names on the Cagewrights already, except actual names. I may throw some other bits and pieces of lore to them instead.

I'd strongly advise against a fully aquatic PC, thoguh, since the majority of the campaign DOES take place in the air.

Really!?!? The majority of the campaign has the PCs flying!?!? Wow, that's really different. Big Eberron twist. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

/end Sarcasm

+1 for Eberron and FR.

It's not a rakasta, is it?

Is that the same thing as a RAKSHASA??? :-P

Wait! You speak common!? Why didn't you just say so?!

Man, if my son burnt my raft, I'd sac him for mana.

That gave me a great laugh.

This is a great post. However, I see no mention of Jack, the fearless leader. What do you think he would be? I'm going with some type of Knight (PHB2) or Paladin. He's definitely honorable, 'cause I woulda nailed Kate eons ago!

We do indeed have a set art team for Savage Tide, but it's not Eva. Though we love all three of the AoWs artists, we wanted the STAP to have a different feel, and as such have chosen to give the whole thing to Ben Wootten and Warren Mahy (who you might know best from their concept art for movies like <i>King Kong</i>). Needless to say, we're pretty excited.

Wow that is impressive. I saw a lot of the artwork for the recent <i>King Kong</i> movie and it was very well done, especially the dinosaurs. If it's at all possible, you're gotten me more excited about the STAP. You guys must be doing something right there at Paizo to get big-wigs like that.

Considering that for a long time people though Hell was literally under their feet, it's conceivable that in a fantasy world, it really is.

....it's not? :-0

How did the battle with the hags work for those who have already run it?

My battle with hags was not difficult at all. Honestly, the hags were more of an irritation than an actualy threat. I even threw in the nerra and skeletons later to make it a bit more challenging.

Evard's Black Tentacles really changes a combat in that small room. :-\

One of the problems I had with Nidrama's story arc is that she shows up near the end as a fallen celestial, with not a lot of explanation as to why.

Having been Called a bunch of time and asked to adventure with a bunch of non-celestials could cause that to happen.

Will it still be possible to Call her after she falls?

Sure...all you need is an outsider of a certain hit dice that matches at least one of your alignments. It works out well because I actually used Nidrama to raise dead one of the PCs, which would be atributed to directly affecting mortal lives, which could cause her to "fall."

This will also really help at the end of Test of Smoking eye. Rakshasa, fire giant, insane clay golemn, Lich, betraying demon, all in a few minutes.

First off, Nab's got teleport at will, so he can just jump into the room any time he wants. I'd suggest that Nab just waits. He spends the time while they're resting trying to figure out where the party went to. Then, poof, he finds them and attacks. My party was fully rested and had to buff during the fight. We lost one member, and almost two. If you're really worried, make Nab a standard Glabrezu and get rid of his utterly-broken improved trip feat. With that, and not much range combat (like my party), he's likely to wipe them.

W E Ray, I thought my party would have a tough time with the Rakshasa and the giant, but they didn't. Litteraly took them two rounds to wipe the monsters. Sure, rak's are scary with 27 SR, but throw a war mage at him with those painful orb spells (no SR!), he dies in a round.

One of my PCs, an archivist/thamategurist (sp?), is planning on using the various planar ally spells since he gets a substantial cost reduction from his PrC. The thama-whatever its called is the PrC found in the DMG that focuses on summoning planar beings. Fortuneately, the SCAP gives several good planar allies that are all named and can be used (Nidrama, Celeste, and various beings from Occipitus like the couatl). He plans on using one of the planar ally spells once each chapter to get the outsiders assistance with the quest(s), using the day-per-level timeframe. This may and may not allow the outsider to assist with the entire chapter.

My questions are: Will using this frequently over-power the party? Will there be a substantial power level increase with Nidrama walking around with the party all the time, or some other outsider with around 12-HD? Who controls the NPC outsider, me or him? Should there be any type of restrictions? How much, if any, of a discount should I give if the player's goals and the NPC outsider's goals "match" (meaning, and outsider gets called to fight a bunch of evil demons, which would match its goals...see the spell description)?

My group started out as 6-players but we have since lost 1, dropping us to 5. Will having an ally outsider help this? I just worry that the outsider will out-shine the party. We're starting chapter 7 next week.

Thanks!

I'm stating out the Striders as an affiliation for my Shackled City campaign, and I wanted everyone's input. Please feel to comment and post suggestions. This is what I was thinking:

Please refer to this post:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/shackledCity/stridersAsAnAffil iation

I did the same thing for Moltenwing in my campaign (or rather, I'm *going* to do it when we get that far). There are too many save-or-die effects already and I tend to find those are not very fun. I just doubled his hitdice with d6 for the damage, and, as someone stated earlier, made it 5d6 if they saved. It was also a reflex save, not a Fortitude.

I plan on making him more of a melee power-house than using the breathweapon. Grappling and swimming in lava *does* sound really fun. :-)

Any chance this will be at GenCon SoCal? We southern california people always get hosed....

Just have to let you guys know there in "Dragon" know that the recent "Off to see the Wizards" article in #347 was brilliant. I loved it. It was a nice change of pace from the more "fluff" and "crunchy" articles present in "Dragon." I thought it was fascinating to see how a standard day goes for the folks in WotC. They seemed stressed! Heck, it even inspired me to format one of my adventures and send it to "Dungeon"! Not that it promises to be any good, granted. ;-)

Just had one question. And this is something I've always felt applied to video-game designers as well: When their hobby becomes their job, do a lot of the writers and workers at WotC get tired of D&D? It just seems that, by working in something that is normally a hobby for most, they'd get tired of it quickly and not want to play anymore. Any truth to this?

Keep up the great work!

Ryan (Ogre_Bane)

P.S. If I ever do make a trip around the WotC headquarters, do they give tours? Or do you have to be a super-special "Dragon" employee?

Just about to take my players into the 'Test of the Smoking Eye.' Any advice from those who have played it on the pacing / areas of concern, etc?

I'm a little worried that there's no one in the group with much in the way of Diplomacy for a few of the events, and I'm really worried about the Fire Giant with Improved Sunder (the likely target is a human fighter 4/cleric 4/Radiant servant of Pelor 2 who has taken 'Ancestral Weapon' and made his spiked chain quite the weapon - and I think it'll just crush him to not have that chain for a while, until he can fix it...)

Any thoughts or concerns to share?

So replace the "Improved Sunder" feat for the giant with something else...perhaps disarm. The Rakshasa he's with may want that weapon and may not want it destroyed, so don't destroy it.

As is/was being discussed in another post, sundering PC's hard-earned, fought for weapons and items isn't fun, for both the player and the DM. So I tend not to do it.

----

Besides that, I think there's one other area of importance in the adventure. I'm just starting this chapter also and I've really built up the "Smoking Eye" stuff a lot in my campaign with a Archivist (HoH) PC who has the "Dreamhaunted" player trait, so the group has been really looking forward to getting this Smoking Eye stuff resolved.

The meeting with Saureya (sp?) is essential. Be sure that the party really interacts with him and speaks with him since he'll give them a lot of info into what exactly the Smoking Eye is, since its not explained well in the adventure. I think it'll also be important that he explains passing the last test is the only test that needs to be passed in order to gain control of the plane, since that will show why Kauraphon is really with the party.

I've been toying with the idea of letting the players go to 21st level in this campaign, giving them a bit more of a chance against Big A in the end. Now I've never done anything past 15th level before, so are you considered "epic" when you hit 20th level or 21st level? Would it make that much of a difference if the party was 21st instead of 20 when they fight Adimarchus?

Ogre_Bane wrote:

Are you saying what's written then in the DMG is wrong? Is this in the errata? I haven't checked the errata yet in the DMG for this rule. I happen to really like it...giants sundering PC's weapons is just not fun.

This is from the DMG 3.5. Pg. 222, top paragraph under the "Hardness and Hit Points" Magic Weapons section. And I quote,

DMG 3.5 wrote:

An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck."

So this is wrong? If it is, I'm keeping it in my games. Seems very fair to me.

It has indeed been erattaed.

DMG ERATTA wrote:

Hardness and Hit Points

Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 222
Problem: The first paragraph is not consistent with similar
information for shields on page 217.
Solution: Delete the first sentence after the boldface header.
Change the next sentence to read as follows:
Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s or
shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points.

That makes me so sad. Sundering PC's hard earned, valuable items is not fun.