Ophryon's page

What timing! My group is starting CotCT next week, and I'm going with a hodgepodge of alternate rules taken from Green Ronin's True20 and WotC's Unearthed Arcana.

Now I receive this fabulous news about Pathfinder RPG, and I am of course eager to participate in the playtesting. What to do?

I'm trying to evaluate whether the things that drew me to True20 will be addressed in Pathfinder. Is anyone else toying between the two systems? If so, what do you like about True20 (or UA) that you also see being "fixed" by Pathfinder? Do you think I can switch to the playtesting and still get the flavor I was looking for?

Here's what I like so far:
* Races and classes jazzed up, with options!
* Selection and use of skills streamlined
* Magic users given a little freedom from the spells-per-day system

More radical stuff that might be too incompatible:
* Hitpoint-less combat (I don't expect this exact system in Pathfinder, but will we see any answer to the slugfest-until-you-die mechanism inherent in the hit point system?)
* Conviction (or Action Points, etc.)
* Magic-use tied to fatigue instead of memorized spells per day

I'm very excited that Paizo has made this decision, and would love to be a part of it. Now I just have to decide if my players will tolerate an 11th hour rules change!

After a long hiatus, some friends and I are diving back into gaming, and I was elected DM. I'm going with the True20 conversion of Rise of the Runelords. I was all jazzed to get started, when what should arrive at my doorstep but one of the coolest 1st level adventures I've seen in a while: Hangman's Noose!

Now I'm thinking of starting the characters as ordinary commoners, making their night of horror in HN their "trial by fire" that unites them as a group. The underlying themes of sins and vengeance in HN seem to mesh nicely with the Adventure Path, as does the "vice/virtue" mechanic in True20.

I'm thinking of moving the whole thing to Magnimar instead of Absalom to make that easier. This would allow some foreshadowing of Justice Ironbriar, since he is the natural one for the party to report to about the secrets learned in the courthouse. I'm also intrigued about the Gentle Repose effect of the Sihedron Medallion. If one of the party members ends up sacrificing himself, perhaps the powers that be allow the corpse to lie in stasis while the rest of the party runs a little errand in exchange for a raising...

My big hook to RotR, though is that I plan to have Sir Rekkart be Nualia's biological father, and his dying wish (particularly if he sacrifices himself for the party) is that they track her down and deliver his message of remorse over abandoning her at birth. (I am correct in that we don't otherwise know who her parents are, right?) This will give them a specific reason to go to Sandpoint and dig into the town's history.

Unfortunately, I have only had time to read Pathfinder #1 in detail, and some of #2, and skimmed the rest. For those of you more familiar with the Adventure Path, is there anything in that hook that wouldn't work? Or does this spark any other ideas? Thanks!

I was idly wondering what the Rival Adventurers were up to during the events of 3FoE, when it occurred to me that the 3 Adventurers themselves were thematically similar to the 3 sections of the adventure. Auric suits the open combat of the Hextor citadel, Tirra would excel at sneaking and climbing around in the caves, and Khellek would be interested in the evil magic of the Vecna sanctum.

My thought was that each section of the dungeon could contain one of the 3 adventurers, stranded or held prisoner. Once discovered, they would provide a little extra muscle for the PCs, as well as some motivation to find the other two. Either way, the Rivals would resent being rescued by their inferiors, but would hide that fact until safely out of the dungeon.

What got me started was the description of the Hextor Battle Temple, where "the faithful and heretics alike fight to the death for glory, honor, and the blessings of the Scourge of Battle." This must happen frequently, since it's the central feature of the citadel, and designed for an audience. Perhaps Hextor requires a monthly "sacrifice" in the form of the losing combatant. Since "heretics" are also fighting, it implies that the Hextorites are recruiting from Diamond Lake. Otherwise, the population of the citadel would dwindle pretty fast.

Auric, after some drunken bragging about his Champion's Belt, was quietly approached by one of the cultists as being worthy of invitation to the Battle Temple. The gladiator jumped at the chance, especially after the disappointing lack of action at the Stirgenest Cairn. After winning the battle, he was given the choice of joining the cult or being sacrificed himself. Auric wisely chose to pose as a petitioner, to give Tirra and Khellek time to realize he was missing and come looking.

Tirra and Khellek investigate, and find leads to the Dourstone, but don't specifically know about the Hextorites. They hire some dumb muscle from the Feral Dog, and infiltrate the mine. Then they separate, either willingly or through mishap; Tirra into the caves and Khellek into the labyrinth. All the mercenaries get killed, stranding the two Rivals. Khellek has used up all his spells surviving the kenku and tricking them into thinking he's dead or escaped. He's now hiding in the Storage Chamber, hoping to rest up enough to reacquire some spells. Tirra is stuck in the lower passage leading to area 16, trapped between the archers and the chokers, wondering when her Darkvision spell is going to wear off...

Maybe Overload or the next chapter will tell us more about the Rivals, and completely contradict this idea. In that case, you could use 3 other NPCs in whom the PCs have a strong interest. Or perhaps one of the PCs themselves gets lured alone to the Battle Temple, and the rescue is what motivates the intial attack. For that matter, getting a PC invited to the battle would be an excellent way to initiate an infiltration. Any other ideas?