Razcar's page

Not sure how much attention this forum is still getting, but here goes. I’m prepping for a run of Agents of Edgewatch in a couple of months, and looking for a way to carry over some of our inter-player RP that we enjoy so much in our current campaign (a one-year detour of Vampire). To help with that I will present my players a list of guard clichés and tropes from film and TV, just as a jump start and to prevent them from falling into the “mechanics first”-trap. This is what I have come up with so far (I’m sure you can spot the inspiration for some!) Could you imaginative folks please help us with suggesting some more?

So, in my AV-campaign, the PCs got together because have recurring common nightmares. One of them is being chased in damp corridors by a laughing presence (guess who?). My PCs are now mostly finished in the second vault (servants quarters) and have stayed quite late, and it's getting dark outside. So I was planning for their nightmare to become reality and have a haunt chase them around (and hopefully, out, since they can't really fight it atm). This will be a mobile version of the Gauntlight with the same necromantic ability to damage as the one in the Gauntlight rooms, but to everyone in a 30 feet radius. The light looks like a pale blue-white woman, and should be accompanied by a scary laugh when I present it tomorrow in our Foundry VTT session.

Well, I looked around on Freesound.com, but couldn't find a good one, so I took one and enhanced it, made it into an .ogg file and thought I might as well share it if anyone else want to do something similar (or just have a creepy female laugh as a background sound).

TL;DR
I made a spooky laugh as an audio file, than you can use for Belcorra.

Here are the files:
Less pitch shift: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e0QkiNrN_M7lI2tzQ6ozfzbJtakf9uAz/view?usp= sharing
More pitch shift: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DUsVcTObTW_2g4xCJ-AYn15rFosxGLII/view?usp= sharing

(For any audio nerds, I made three tracks in Ableton Live, one with reverb and delay with a slow volume envelope, track two with a pitch shifter with the fine frequency on another envelope and more reverb, and the last track just the reverb tail from track two reversed. And then drenched the master buss in even more reverb...)

Attribution: The sound I based it on is this one: https://freesound.org/people/drotzruhn/sounds/405209/ under creative commons attribution license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Has anyone made an XP list summary/spreadsheet for this AP and is willing to share it?

I've decided to use XP for this AP because of its sandbox nature and to reward exploration. We've used milestone levelling for years but I don't think it's a good fit for this AP. But I'm not used to the XP system of PF2 and honestly find it a bit arcane. So if anyone has made a summary that would be super helpful.

...and we're done. We finished the Apex fight yesterday and Barzillai has finally been defeated. 105 (!) around-the-table sessions over four years. One change of players (in book two) due to a move. Two permanent character deaths. And now our four remaining heroes can kick back and eat all the freedom fries they want in the free Ravounel.

Big thanks to the writers and to the developer/writer James Jacobs for creating an EXCELLENT adventure path, and to the participants in this forum for great ideas, clarifications, and feedback.

I might muster the strength to write an AP summary post of our Hell's Rebels journey (or at least of the changes I made to the Bonetower and the visions, since that is freshest in my mind) someday, if anyone would be interested, but for now I'm off to actually getting to *play* some for myself! We're starting Ironfang Invasion this Friday, and I'm really looking forward to just coming to the sessions, put my feet up, and get to be entertained. No prep, no stress, just need to remember my iPad and dice. Heaven.

Wow, what a ride. It's been a blast (of hellfire!) all along. Long live the Silver Ravens!

We are just about to start Hell's Rebels. My players have dutifully read the player's guide, and there's a couple of different methods the Silver Ravens can choose between in their approach to their rebellion. From my player's pre-planning I've understood they are to take the clandestine route. They will have a rebellion name & cause for people to gather around, but they themselves will be anonymous and their identities secret - there's talk about always covering their faces Subcomandante Marcos-style, using nom de guerres, coded messages, never meeting in the same place twice, and such. They are assuming Barzillai is going to crack down hard and fast on any rebellious tendency as soon as it shows itself, and that he will likely go after their families/jobs/loved ones as well if given half a chance.

My players will of course have no idea (at this point) about BT's real plans and why he's really in Kintargo, and how that will play in their favour (for a while at least). They only know he's there to suppress rebellion and enforce the rule of House Thrune, and that he'll do that to his full high-level inquisitor ability. That he's there to kick chaotic good ass and chew mint bubblegum, and he's just forbidden mint...

So the problem I see on the horizon is that from Turn of the Torrent the AP assumes the rebel leaders are more or less public figures. As long as you have an "ear to the ground" you'll know where the leadership hang out and can "make contact". There's Setrona Sabinus, there's a ship captain (from the imperial navy, none the less!), there's Hetamon Haace - who later leads other quest-givers to the PCs. They all just pop up.

This won't hold for my players I'm afraid, at least not in the start of the adventure when they'll run a tight ship (later they might adjust when they find that BT is not that interested in his day job). They might go for one quest-giver finding them because someone in one of their teams ran their mouths, but they'll shut that hole quickly. Loose lips sink ships and all that. I can't have the Long Road coffee house be some sort of rebellion notice board either, since they'll think Laria to be a liability if she's that careless and open about her political leanings.

So there's my problem. I know my players will be thorough in building their undercover ("deep, deep, DEEP undercover") rebellion, and the AP is very much built like they won't be. Anyone else that has a very secretive Silver Ravens? What did you do with all the home delivery quest-givers?

TL:DR. My players will run a seriously secretive rebellion. The AP mostly assumes they won't. What to do?

So we finished our Rise of the Runelords campaign yesterday. We started in September of 2014 and it has been almost 60 sessions. We've all had a blast. Big thanks to Paizo for making such a fun adventure, and another thanks to all forum posters here for helping in scorching-raying away the AP's warts.

Here's how the end battle against Karzoug went down (as I can recall it, it went late and there was some beer involved), hope it can be of use to other GMs.

Preamble:
We're a gang of old timers who've returned to this hobby after many years. I have four PCs in the group, all level 16. A cleric of Desna, a ranged ranger, an evoker wizard and a two-handed fighter. I let the players roll in a very generous fashion which gave them have silly high stats (something I regretted after we all had picked up speed again), and also Hero Points. They had quite well built characters, with loads of HP and crazy saves, and were really well decked out due to crafting feats and smart acquisitions. They all had runeforged weapons. Karzoug's tactics and spells, and some of his equipment, were adjusted by me as a consequence.

I revised Karzoug's spell list. He used most of his transmutation slots for buffs instead of attack spells, since he knew the PCs had Dominant weapons. I gave him metamagic gemstones, 3 of each kind, so he could cast more quickened spells (and silent ones as well) than his rod allowed. Also I added a bunch of scrolls and some other bits and pieces. I replaced his Arcane Strike and Combat Expertise with Spell Penetration and Improved Initiative. He also had Boots of Speed. I had pre-rolled the rounds for his two time stops, and made a spreadsheet for him and his minions' actions for the fight. I also allowed Karzoug the see the whereabouts of the PCs - they all wore Rings of Xin-Shalast, so he would pre-buff before they entered the Anima Focus. I had given all Karzougs minions the advanced template to make them last more than one round.

The Eye:
The PCs buffed themselves to the teeth, and then some more (they'd spent plenty on scrolls, both self-crafted and bought ones) and readied themselves. Then they jumped in. Big K had prepped with an widened (from gemstone) Dimensional Lock at the arrival platform, to prevent them from just hopping up to him. He had placed two symbols, (pain and weakness) on the stairs up (which his guards were attuned to). He'd placed a Wall of Suppression across the chamber, but with a gap at the top so he could fly over it. He had a permanent Prismatic Sphere 20 ft. above his throne. He himself was hovering above the sphere, invisible from a UMD:d wand. He had his Glaive project an major image of him sitting on the throne as a decoy, hoping the PC's would attack it (and so I could show my players the awesome cover of Gamemastery Guide). He hoped they would notice they couldn't Dimension Door/Hop up, so they would run or fly up to him at the throne, through the Wall and over one of the symbols. Unfortunately for old Karzy, that's not how it went down though.

Karzoug's buffs at the start of the fight:
Fiery Body (from scroll - he's the Runelord of greed, he's got some bling)
Mind Blank
Spell Turning
Stone skin
Haste (from boots)
Protection against Fire
Protection against Electricity
Protection against Cold
Fire resistance (he knew the wizard liked his fire spells)
Electricity resistance
Cold resistance
Invisibility
Protection from good
False Life

The PC's buffs - too many to list, but some will be mentioned in the round-by-round description. Mainly, they all had loads of elemental resistance/protection, death ward, true seeing, displacement, protection from spells (+8 res bonus!), stoneskin and other goodies. They had to save some round-only buffs to the fight (haste, mirror image, holy aura). They suspected (rightly) that he would go for necromancy and evocation in his attacks, since they thought that he knew that they had Dominant weapons...

The fight:
Round 1
All pc's easily make their saves from the stun from being transported by the Anima Focus (I add +2 to +5 to all DC's to try to somewhat counter the incredible saves my pc's have). They quickly take in their surroundings. The ranger rolls a perception check, rolls crazy high, and sees both the Wall of Suppression (which wasn't hard) and the two symbols (which was harder). He tells the other's through their permanent telepathic bond. They thought that the Wall was a Wall of Force, and took note to stay away from the symbols (although I forgot about them at the end of the fight). They all see that the Karzoug on the throne is an illusion (all have true seeing) and the the real Karzoug is flying, body immolated, above the primatic sphere atop the throne.

Karzoug wins initiative (I rolled a 20). Meteor Swarm (was thinking to change this rather weak tactic, but thought it would be a nice opener nevertheless) on the cleric, who takes a little damage, and a little fire damage that is absorbed by the party's protection from fires. Then time stop, four rounds.
Karzoug casts globe of invulnerability on himself, flies down to the PC's. We use the action economy from Pathfinder Unchained. So next round, he positions himself next to the wizard, casts a Prismatic Sphere around the both of them, steps out, flies back (over his Wall), casts a Delayed Fireball at the pc's and goes into his permanent prismatic sphere at the throne.

The time stop ends, the delayed fireball explodes and shaves off some more resistance and damages them (except the wizard, who is safe in his new cozy home).
The dragons flies down, through the wall (no buffs) which the PCs though was a weird Wall of Force. He breathes lightning in a flyby attack, by the PCs continue in making their reflex saves so just a little damage. The PCs attack the giants, the wizard tries to dimension door out, and understanding he can't, curses himself for using their mage's disjunction scroll on the door in to the anima focus before.

The runegiant Hutta gets hit with loads of damage from the ranger, misses a wisdom check and discards her orders to get the PC's to come up through the traps. She will show her lord how worthy she is of being his bodyguard by defeating these pesky humans herself! She moves down the platform, passes through the Wall, casts True Seeing on herself to see through the displacement all the PC's have. The fighter airwalks up to one storm giant and engages him, and he strikes back. The other storm giant uses his Chain lightning which shaves off some HP here and there. The cleric who's gotten the brunt of it all the first round casts a Heal on himself. You know it's gonna be a great fight when Heal comes out the first round. People that say in-combat healing is a waste obviously don't play at this level... ;-)

Round 2
Karzoug comes out of his Sphere, casts a quickened Horrid Wilting, damages the PC's some, and flies back in again. The wizard tells the cleric to dispel the dimensional anchor so he can come out, and readies a dimension door for the cleric's cue. The cleric casts a dispel on the anchor, and uses a Hero Point (the first of many to be spent in this fight, they saved the day). With the Hero Point, the player rolls 32 (needed a 31 to dispel it). Meanwhile the ranger hurts the runegiant, but is getting trashed by a crit from the runegiant's retaliation and arrows from a storm giant. With the damage from here and there and the Horrid Wilting, he's just got a few hit points left. If Karzoug hits him with spell at the start of round 3 he'll be gone. Karzoug, seeing it all from his safe little tree house, sharpens his finger of death for the next round. The fighter melees with the other stormgiant, and downs him.

Round 3
The ranger uses a Hero Point to change his initiative to first in the round, before Karzoug. He uses a teleporting arrow to get away up to the side, and drinks a CSW potion. Karzoug comes out and throws a Wail of the Banshee at the other pc's, he can't reach the ranger now on one round. The wizard recognizes the spell with a Spellcraft roll, and tells everyone to watch out. Everyone uses Hero Points for their saves, and all make it, with some close calls. Karzoug doesn't fly back though, but remains hovering above the party, full of arrogance and getting really annoyed. How could these worms still be alive? Preposterous! The fighter attacks the runegiant, who attacks him back. The cleric casts greater dispel at Karzoug and gets rid of his Fiery Body, Stoneskin and Globe of Invulnerability. They players really roll well the whole night. The wizard casts interposing hand to try to get away from the dragon, who's flown around to the back and is making short order of his mirror image, and a quickened scorching ray at the dragon.

Round 4
The ranger peppers Karzoug with all he's got, but luckily for the BBEG he doesn't score a crit on his now crit-vulnerable self. Karzoug casts his second timestop, and casts a quickened summon for an elder air elemental, which he orders to disarm the fighter. He also casts repulsion and ice body on himself to get crit immunity again, and gets ready to maze the fighter. The fighter fights the runegiant, blinds and staggers her with a crit and gets attacked by the newly arrived air elemental, who misses to disarm him. The ranger downs the runegiant. The wizard Banishes the air elemental, who hardly had time to say Hello. The cleric hits all PCs with a Mass Heal from a scroll.

Round 5
Karzoug mazes the fighter, who's player declines doing the real maze that I've printed out for him and instead rolls an Int check, using a Hero Point. He needs to roll above 11, and makes it. He's back next round. The dragon tears in on the cleric and the wizard, who fight back. The wizard shows that he also has big boy spells, and mazes the remaining storm giant, who's been peppering the pc's with arrows. The ranger attacks Karzoug. Karzoug releases his glaive who starts fireballing left and right, but due to low DC isn't doing much damage. The cleric casts Holy Aura, giving all Spell Resistance 25, which would prove really valuable later on.

Round 6
Karzoug smiles and Wishes him and all his bodyguards back to full life and health. The pc's squeal. Karzoug moves in for a Finger of Death on the cleric the next round, thinking that the fighter is gone for a while and with his allies back he's practically won. The fighter comes back, which makes Karzoug roar in anger. Enough! Die! The wizard and the dragon battle it out, the ranger lets his arrows fly.

Round 7
Karzoug tries to Finger of Death the cleric, but I roll a 2 on Karzoug's spell penetration (he needed a 3 or more to get over the Spell resistance of 25!). This becomes a turning point for old Karzy. The cleric summons an air elemental who engages the body guards, while the wizard greater dispels some of Karzoug's buffs. The ranger and fighter battles it out with the minions.

Round 8-9
Wild fighting, spells zapping back and forth between Karzoug and the wizard's spell turnings, the giants and dragon gets killed, Karzoug dimension doors back to heal himself in his permanent Prismatic Sphere, comes out and attacks the wizard with a polar ray which he survives. The fighter tries to close with Karzoug but can't pass his repulsion.

Round 10+
The wizard manages to dispel both Karzougs repulsion (they were great at dispelling) and wreath of blades. The cleric dimension hops up with the fighter close to Karzoug with a Silence on the fighter. Karzoug uses a silent gemstone to dispel the silence - he should have used it for a dimension door away instead. I was getting a bit tired here. Everyone attacked Karzoug who answered with Caustic Combustion and a second Wail. But he couldn't withstand the barrage, even if he was still immune to crits. So he went down, with a last cry of "Impossible! I'm a God! Why can't I live on?" (brownie points for anyone who knows where that is from...)

And that ended our campaign. The fight took almost four hours of straight gaming. The PC's fared really well, with their planning, buffing and dispelling really paying off (along with some luck and Hero Points to help tip the scales...) Now it's on to Hell's Rebels!

I'm by no means a photoshop wizard (which will be obvious to anyone clicking the link) but I made a splash picture for our own Hell's Rebels Facebook group. Just some copy pasta from the art in the book and some added silvery glow to the logo. Maybe it could be of use to someone else, for roll20, obsidan portal or whatever.
Hell's rebels logo

I'm the GM for a group that will soon start Hell's Rebels, after we'll finish Rise of the Runelords shortly. We're all old hands at rpg's (from the time when you didn't have to prefix it with "table top") who have picked up this hobby again after a long hiatus. My players don't play in other campaigns, do not buy rpg products themselves - though we all chip in for the stuff I buy for us :) - and are generally not immersed in the culture of this hobby. And the reason I mention this is that this fact gives me a great opportunity - to cherry pick the greatest ideas, twists, NPCs, set pieces and concepts from old AP's and include them in our next campaign.

I am currently planning to mix in a part from Council of Thieves

So now I would please need help picking out other cherries from the huge Paizo AP pie. I could buy just the PDF's that contain the stuff that would fit (after adjustments have been done, of course) and hopefully make our Hell's Rebels even more awesome. (I'm sure it'll be great fun as written, but I suspect AP-writers work under the inevitable yoke of "we-have-already-done-that". Since we won't play older AP's anyway, that won't be a problem for us.)

So, wise men and women of the Paizo forums - if you would cherry pick the best concepts from all the AP's you have experienced, what would make the cut? I don't mean whole chapters per se, even though it could be, but what are in your view the best concepts, scenes, NPCs and/or fights that the great minds at Paizo have cooked up over the years? A greatest hits of Paizo's adventure paths, if you will!

I think names in fiction are really important for getting a good sense of immersion in the setting. So no PC's named Buffalo Bill or Snake Plissken allowed in my fantasy RPG campaigns...

The same with names of things, NPCs and places in APs. If a name doesn't work I change it. Compounding this is the fact that we don't play in English (but in Swedish), so many names that have a meaning in the English language got to be changed, lest it all becomes a weird mix of languages. And of course, sometimes fantasy names mean something else in our language - usually something silly :) This can all take quite a bit of work, but I translate all handouts anyway so might as well do the names.

Anyway, I'm now prepping for our next campaign, which will be Hell's Rebels. Going through all the names that need to be changed/translated, I've stumbled on a real biggie. Thrune. From the very British "th" sound at the beginning, the American back-mouthed "r", to the "une" suffix - well, it just doesn't work.

And it is such an important name for the AP! However, I can't think of any good replacement. Nothing. Stumped. So I'm hoping the community might please help me - maybe someone thought the same as I did, or just has a great alternative in their fantasy name repertoire :)

I'd prefer one that is more "Cheliax-sounding" (Thrune sounds like the name of a British quaint little village to me), so Italian/Spanish-inspired, and has to fit with Barzillai, Abrogail, so preferably with few syllables. And yes, I've been repeat-clicking all the online fantasy name generators I could find...