Psyonis's page

MythicFox wrote:

Please correct me if I've missed something, but if the adventure assumes the PCs are taking the riverboat from Tephu to the Parched Dunes, when/how does the 'outside of town' ambush go off? Just on that embankment between the city and the docks as seen on the map, with the risk of being seen from the city? Or do the PCs have to catch the riverboat someplace not clearly indicated?

We just played this encounter. I based it on the riverboat scene from the Brendan Frasier Mummy movie, with the cultists rowing in under the cover of night and secretly boarding the boat after it had left Tephu earlier that day. The starsoul sorcerer flew upriver a short ways, hiding in the starry night sky. The charmed sphinx made several screeching flyovers to distract the party while the cultists boarded and got into place, and then they leapt to the attack to try and recover the Mask. The outdoors and nighttime setting made it particularly favorable for the sorcerer's call lightning storm ability. No one died, though it was close -- they did lose their prize racing camel in the aftermath of the inevitable fireball. Of course, because it was based on an action move, the boat caught fire, and people were diving into the river to escape the flames. Overall, it was a great capstone encounter after all of the role-playing and politicking in Tephu.

Stealing this set up, as finishing up the last library tonight.

My favorite Die type is an 8 sided 4 sider. Drives my GM crazy.

also I'm typing this at work...

Not asking you to, it's honest praise. A lot of businesses would try to talk around that point, push the merits of the AP, the intrinsic value of owning such a landmark installment in your AP line as a collectors item if nothing else, or other hard sell pitches. Yes, even on their own forums.

It's usually really tiresome and transparent so it's nice that you guys are open about the fact that you are a business first and foremost instead of trying to deny it even though it's an open secret.

seconding this statement. How you guys approach the money side aspect of this industry is great. With an open source rules system(and all the stats on the d20 site) the things we buy are the stories, and how these particular stories (in the APs) are presented give us, the consumers, the information to make the choice to buy what we want. Then we come here pick it apart(in a good way).

And then you guys get on these boards and explain the things we don't understand, or need help with. And I haven't seen anyone here charged for that yet.

Oh where to start. We added a witch who did reincarnation for cheap in the necropolis. She was used a few times.

We did away with the economy aspect of book 2. It made it too ugh for my group and just keeping panic to non economic consequences worked great.

Book 3 was pretty the same.

The big change came at the end of 4 where the party beat the FP into submission, mangled her hands, and cut out her tongue. They kept her alive but unconscious until finding the statue machine in book 5 when she became a pretty statue.

Book 5 was completely retooled, eschewing the attack on wati entirely. See my posts on the book 4 5 and 6 threads for specifics.

Book 6 had no active hakotep and bbeg neferuset instead. It all worked out alright. Again the meat and bones of what happens when you take FP prisoner are in the discussion threads for books 4 to 6.

I think it was one of your post that gave me the idea to post this as a summary of all the changes!

What was the best change you did to this AP, and what was the result?

I am not sure what stories would be better for a GM to hear, the best, or the worst cases...

...I see your point. Also, standard disclaimer, I speak for myself and not as an official voice of Paizo. Then again, I have insight.

Treasure assignment is somewhat both objective and subjective. Its objective in that we need to be providing a set amount of treasure so that players have a reward with which to buy gear. Its subjective in that there is no exact methodology on how this financial reward should be provided. It can be gold, art, magic items, or a healthy mix of lots of stuff.

Honestly? The sarcophagus is large and unwieldy and getting it up the shaft is going to be difficult. Some groups, like yours perhaps, might thank me for the level of verisimilitude that I might have introduced. Other groups might be annoyed that I tied up the treasure into what they feel is a big pain in the butt to deal with.

No foolin'. I wrote a PFS scenario where a small bit of treasure were these fancy ballgowns. Some guy gave me a bad review because ballgowns are heavy and annoying. :) Go internet! And I'm talking just a few hundred gold and his party could have grabbed them on the way out. I don't know what to tell you.

In this case specifically, a few hundred gold won't make your players overpowered. I would assign a 100 to 300 gp additional value. Whatever you personally feel is fair.

AND/OR... You could adjust that amount by the effort the players...

With good aligned characters, particularly those local to the area, I think the time/trouble to preserve some items, getting them to museums, etc,and not taking a crow bar to 'em, puts them more on the side of the "Indiana Jones" style tomb diving. Well worth it IMHO

Thats OK. I properly wasn't clear enough with the Haunt description.

The Rope is not cut, the PCs just witness the last minute of Ali's life.

When I read it, I pictured A Cleric patrol happening by and investigating: either thief had fallen already or was mid-climb-when they cut it, heard the scream or not, and closed the doors, dooming the tomb robber for all eternity.

That said, I'm totally stealing that haunt!

Psyonis wrote:

Me: You see a tall Taldan women with a plumed hat and a Symbol of Nethys around her neck approach your table...

Player I: I attack her.

Player II: I flank her-I stab her in the jejunum.

Me: Cough-Choke! Wh-hy?

Players: She's on the Cover.

B-but... Carrion Crown had a volume with an allied NPC on the cover. So did Skull and Shackles. Wrath of the Righteous had two volumes with allies on the cover! Jade Regent had FIVE!

Do they know any of the other APs? Point out that cover art doesn't always equal evil.

Was it Council of Thieves that had the Dark Elf? Because that one was bad enough to last a lifetime, spoilerwise.

Darrell Impey UK wrote:

Don't worry, I appreciate why it wasn't done. Even a single page given over to (effectively) nothing is a page that could (should) be being used else where. Still, the fact that every building has something living (un-living) in it felt a bit wrong. As you say, verisimilitude.

My take from reading the adventure, was that part of the Pharasmin church's job was to do a brief scan of buildings and only choose those appropriate and somewhat evenly valued for the lottery. This is why there is the three rounds, Each round getting progressively more dangerous and valuable as appraised by the churd. Anything that doesn't make the cut, or the temple doesn't want adventurers wandering into, is simply not part of the lottery.

Pharasmin Priest #1: Okay, lets see....Mansion w broken gate...

Me: You see a tall Taldan women with a plumed hat and a Symbol of Nethys around her neck approach your table...

Player I: I attack her.

Player II: I flank her-I stab her in the jejunum.

Me: Cough-Choke! Wh-hy?

Players: She's on the Cover.

I have a Sarenrae Cleric in a tabletop Kingmaker (btw, i'm a reformed thief/killer, I love the redeemed evildoer angle)and I went with healing/fire. Along with the wizard, having a 2nd player with fireball cannot be overstated. Plus the 50% increase to all cure spells lets you go thru fewer spells to get the party back to full strength, not for nothing.