Nolzur's Orb

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After reading many complaints about this Ap ending, I thought It would be interesting to put our creative minds together in order to develop a different last act for the Tyrant Grasp's Ap. What follows here should be intended as a proposal for what I perceive could be a more focused Book 6, but wishes also to be a trend were to post useful statblocks and other DM tools.

Before embarking in this project, it's important to remark how this proposal is not done to denigrate the work behind the actual, published adventure. Tyrant Grasp, as a final 1 Edition adventure with a survival horror dynamic, is a great project, and the authors intent should not be questioned, nor disregarded. What I'll try to articulate in the following posts is merely a different interpretation of the same events, using the same settings and resources.

As such, one thing shall be made clear: the AP's finale shall remain the same. At the end of this adventure, it shall be required to the player characters to sacrifice their lives, and possibly their souls, to stop Tar Baphon's threat. What I'll try to propose is a different journey towards the same destiny.

My proposal shall developed in 3 chapters:
1) a rewriting of the first 2 parts of book 6 ("The nascent wilds" and "the fortress of the dead"); this shall be done in a few parts, since it explores 4 areas.
2) a reimagining of part 3 , with the inclusions of different encounters and npcs; this shall also be in a few parts, this time to proper present both the encounters and the atmosphere of each fight.
3) a specific section on the Whispering Tyrant, detailing not only the fight with Tar Baphon himself, but also a poetic suggestion in order to, in my opinion, better connect this specific fight with the Pc's personal story in the narrative.

These sections shall be intermixed by other suggestions, like a few extra "scenes" which could be developed into the narrative of book 6.

Writing down this will require a few weeks (english is not my native language), during which I'll be open to suggestions and considerations to interview them into the narrative.


Greetings, fellow DMs - I wish to confront my thoughts about something that, while reading this excellent AP, has started to bother me a bit about two of the three dragons of the region of Kintargo.

While the shadow dragon Ithanothaur is an fashinating creature in his uniqueness (a CN Umbral dragon with the pc's can talk and potentially properly bribe), the blue dragon Rivozair and the red Adrakash are giving me a few thoughts of confusion.

The former is the most perplexing to me, since Rivozair is a blue dragon whose actions don't match, at least to me, with the typical blue dragon mindset.
1) First and foremost, she's a blue dragon in a region with no deserts or dry areas that my be of her enjoyment. While i really like the pathfinder version of blue dragons estetically - and we got some awesome artwork for Rivozair - one does wonder why an adult blue dragon chooses to live for a few decade on an uncharted island in the middle of the Dismal Nitch. I fail to see how can she enjoy herself by laying low in such a place, but i can understand the desire to simply lay low for a few generations, allowing time to make people forget of her failures. Was she so much umiliated by the ravens? However ...
2) Rivozair is an adult blue dragon, so she's got between 100 and 200 years. As such, she was probably barely an adult when se tried to "menace" (i believe she was trying to conquer/get tribute from) Kintargo. The mindset i've expressed is more akin to an older dragon, since those have already outlived even the most long lived races. I've the impression she should be a bit older, at least of Ithanothaur's age, but she was "de-aged" to grant the pc a more fair fight.
3) As a blue dragon, Rivozair's lacks a bit of agency. Since she's the "dragon" of someone else, we don't see any plan of her being conducted while gaining access to Kintargo. While this could be due to Barzillai's will, i've noted how a few other of his entourage seem to have more agency and interests, while Rivozair seems fine to just pillaging and read for her new magical book. Which is fine, but very "un blue like", at least by my standards.

Adrakash is less perplexing, since he's older and a red one, which to me are like living disasters, sleeping a lot and waiting a reason to simply wake up and consume the world in fire. However, having an old red dragon actively guarding a "secret underground shrine" a few hundred meters under a mayor city and never popping his head out to spread his wings seems a bit "convenient"

All of these thoughts lend me to believe that Rivozair would have been more interesting as an older dragon, and from a different species. I think a devilbound old brine dragon (CR 15) could have been way more thematic had have made his presence felt more throught the AP by having the various sea creatures the ravens have encountered know and fear her.

However, I've another idea that could be interesting, and that i wish to propose to you: having a returning Adrakash taking Rivozair's place in the lore of Kintargo's history, and have the silver ravens fight Adrakash with the (possibly secret) assistance of another dragon (Rivozair could have been an old brine dragon bribed or an heroic young bronze dragon). Wounded and humiliated for a second time, Adrakash would have fled underground, plotting revenge, but be founded by Nasperiah, with offered healing and asylum to the creature in exchange for a period of service. Then this Rivozair would have drifted away from the ravens (but her hipothetical corruption is something for another post).

What do you think of my impression of these two dragons? Have you expanded the background of Adrakash and Rivozair in some way?


This post aims to collect materials and suggestions in order to develop the encouters GM are required to provide for the battles in book 3 and book 6.
For those who don't know what I'm referring to:

Drezen battles:

As written in Book 3, Xanthir Vang is made aware of the "Drezen problem" and retaliate in three different kind of manners. First throught an assasination attempt against Pcs, later by to abducting one of pcs cohorts to intimidate them or lure them somewhere and after that by weekly assaults against the city itself. Instead of using the mass combat rules, the book suggest a quick session of 3 to 4 encounters APL + 2 foes.
Also, in Book 6, Pcs are called to oppose the legions of the Worldwound general themselves that is gonna attack drezen. While the book tries to not focus on the battle itself and suggest a quick way for its resolution, I really can't see mythic characters take almost no part in such epic conflict, and the entire resolution (sneak where the general is and kill her) seems less epic it should be. Surely it was done for lack of space, and we can think about something more challenging.

I'll start tomorrow by posting some guerrila-like strategy for X forces and up to 2 encounter CR 19-21 for the book 6 conflict


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Reading City of locust (a fascinating module full of clever thinking and amazing ideas) I've finally found something that this AP was, till now, lacking: the rescuing of powerful, important allies of the crusade. I'm well aware that, in the other modules, PCS are intended to rescue, save and redeem many people (like Arueshalae), but for me characters where never intended to rescue anyone whom presence would have challanged their roles as protagonists. Now, with book six, I'm very glad to see that, since pcs are almost immortal forces of nature, they can actually meet ad save some very interesting people that can later help them:

the new allies:

The phoenix Pyralisia, now corrupted by the abyss, and the silver dragon Terendevel, now a ravaner.

Surely level 18 MR 8 or more pcs can resurrect and clear those souls from corruption, yet the book does not mention how these beings would react after being restored to their proper condiction. Would they follow the Pcs in their quest? Can they offer more insight about the situation in the Worldwound? I can easily see the PCs flying down from the heavens with those two ladies throwing fire and ice on the poor demons of Deskari.

So, what should happen for you? And how should GMs try to balance the presence of those ladies?


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I wanted to talk about an fact that ha always bugged me: the disparity between good outsiders and evil outsiders.

I don't know how many times this may have come up, but let me frase it anyway: since in D&D monsters are, generally, something to make the PCS fight against, it's normal that there are way more bad creature in the Bestiaries than good ones. I get this.

What bother me is the distribution of such beings in the world of Golarion. When I first read of the worldwound in 2009 I was shocked to think that any people in Avistan had a day of free time with so much demons free to fly everyway in the mortal coil ... And i was right! There are too many evil outsiders around golarion, and there is almost no reason such creature havent totally consumed the planet except for plot convinience. However, since there are so much evil beings there, the lack of presence of good outsiders in Golarion seem to me strange and illogic. I mean, for 30 ... no, let's say for 100 demons we get 1 celestial active in golarion, i believe.

Now. Let's examin the Inner sea region and it's greater threats to peace and happiness.
We got:
1) runelords (quasi-mortal mage kings of ancient civilization that have in many cases army of outsiders [bounded pit fiends, an entire army of summonable beings, succubus and such])
2) Drow: underground empire that worships and summons demons. They tried to bring the apocalypse.
3) Cheliax: a society of diabolism with pit fiend bounded somewhere and other devils somewhere. Lorlach in corvosa.
4) Irrisen: an extraplanar witch and lots of cults of demon(Kotci guy)
5) Osirion: a lot of forgotten daemon bounded in pyramids
6) Katapesh and qadira (a lot of wish granting evil efreeti).
7) Sarkoris: an entire nation consumed by an invading demon lord!

All the other threats (Evil god cults, undead societies, piracy, generic evil mages) seem to me ok since are counterable by mortals alone.
But with such threats coming from extraplanar sources, it seems absurd to me that there are so few celestials active to help!
I know that, game wise, this is because we need THE PCS to be the HEROES, but what the hell! We need balance. In forgotten realms we got uber mages like elminster who actively close-up any rift towards the lower planes (when they can). In Eberron we have Dragons and couatls vs demons, and that is Slayeresque and awesome. What we have in pathfinder? The new smite evil mechanic? It's nice, but unfortunately a lot of such being can teleport and kill/enslave/make made everyone that is not an high level Paladin or a cleric ...

I would really like to know your opinions about such, form me, senseless and illogic disparity.


Alas, we got a new abyssal prison!
For those who remenber, in the last 10 years we got another one: the Divided ire. If I remenber something from the Divided Ire prison of Demogorgon was its pityful level of sicurity (there was just a glabrezu barbarian with some backup and a flow of nabassus outside, right?)
Clever and pious pcs could easily free dozens of good outsiders, gaining immense tactical advantage.
Now, this new prison is actually bigger and prettier that the Divided Ire, but does not seem more secure. It says there are "just" 120 demodands in the labyrinth, but they have not telepathy, teleport capacity of their own and way to detect illusion except detect magic.
Also, no other sentinels or scrying sensors!
The security can be easily fooled by a smart group, and the risk of an attack "en masse" against Pcs is minimal. Sure, there are other denizers that can endanger them, but the standard patrol does not seem a menace for level 15/16 mithic characters.
Since many players may well think, at this point, to look around the place and "Hey, let's find some other angel and free them!", I invite you all to post here suggestion of interesting prisoners or roleplay opportunity for the pcs to find here outside the four plot related ones that the book already give us. I'll do daily for a week starting tomorrow.

Just remenber 4 things:
1) Baphomet have no sympathy for the devil - He keeps many devils here. Probably 40% of the captive should be such.
2) Baphomet is horny - he probably keeps the pretty ladies somewhere else, like in the labyrinth near is throne room.
3) Baphomet is ingenious - many of his prisoners are being warped to something else, or made insane, or even worse (half fiend, broken soul, lycantropic, vampire - you pick).
4) The freed prisoners should to directly help the Pcs in their quest. They may be too weak/deprived or have lost may of their powers from a curse or such. So, no solar unless said solar is not inside some kind of mystic ruby that breaks only when baphomet is defeated, or such.
Got it?
Mighty Paizo Community, unleash your immagination!


I noticed while reading comments in Herald of the Ivory Labirint how many consider the fight with Baphomet a letdown since he cannot withstand the madness that is high mythic damage output. Also, since the fight against him is, tecnically, optional, we get some simple tactics and nothing more. I think, since most of the adventure path was fought against his minions, this fight could and should be the Epic Itself, possibly surpassed only by the fight with Areelu and Deskari.
So I call you for suggestions. How to make this fight stuff of legend?
I already have few ideas ...

Epic labyrinth:
What about, when Baphomet appear, the entire place becomes animated? It gets an initiative score and each round can wildly resharp itself, generating wall of stone around the PCS, or maybe some squares get inverse gravity or some other insane staff. I don't see why baphomet should try to imprison or send people in some dimensional maze. They already are there!

The Ivory templars:
I've read about using mythic silence with uhhallow to make anyone not CE unable to speak. That is creativity. But what about have the PCS also submerged by templars? Instead of teleporting in, Baphomet opens up the roof of the chamber and, before even appearing, in hundreds of hundreds of templars falls down to the pcs. Those are "just" a legion of Mythic Minotaurs and low level undead wearing insigna of good faiths (Iomedae, Sarenrae, Nethys). The Pcs have 5 round to play with those fellows before Baphomet comes in with his big guns entourage.

Put something on, please!:
I know that he consider himself a sexy demon lord, but what the hell! Who goes almost naked to fight people able to hurt/kill you? Let's think some cool stuff for Him, like a proper armor or some kind of defensive artifact.