Samael's page

I just checked the D&D boards and I get a page not found error.

Anyone know anywhere else to find this?

So, two simple questions:

1) Can a witch learn (not use) spells from an arcane scroll?

2) If so, can (s)he learn spells that are not on her class spell list?

If you want to check out the RPGenius website, the address is:

http://therpgenius.com

Itis definitely worth checking out. It already has extensive resources and with more participation and membership it'll just get better. I for one have already had my DM inflict several of the add-ons on me!!)

I'm one of the players in Koramado's campaign - and occasional sidetrek DM.

Our group, too, wanted to go after Gottrod's lair, so I thumbed through my Dungeons for something to use. Then I stumbled across "Old Embers Never Die" from issue 100.

Since its a sidetrek and our party as 8th level at the time, I toned it down. I took the kobolds from the first part and made them the guardians of the lair in the second part. I toned them down as follows: 2 4th fighters, 2 5th rogues, 1 9th druid, 1 8th fighter, 1 8th sorcerer, and 1 7th/2nd cleric/dragon adept. I made all the dire rats standard dire rats, the elemental huge, and got rid of all the lake denizens save the druid.

The setup was the the druid was in monitor lizard form swimming in the lake and the fighters and rogues were armed with bows and stationed up on the crater rim (where they couldn't easily be seen). As the party followed the trail along the edge of the lake, at a given point the druid (using Natural Spell) started hitting random party members with Call Lightning. This was the signal for the fighters and rogues to open up with arrow fire. I assumed the first arrow each scored a hit with was poisoned, just to make things interesting! When the party damaged one of the archers for more than half their hit points, the injured kobold ducked down into some kobold-sized tunnels, to reappear later and fully healed. The party never did figure out about the lizard.

The next section was the tar pit room, where the soecerer used his familiar to drop the portcullis and separate the party. The sorc hit the party with spells until he too was damaged, at which time he ducked into another one of those tunnels. He was guarded by a dire rat on either side so that he'd have a chance to escape. At the same time the druid and her familiar hit the party members on the other side of the portcullis.

Finally, the treasure room. The obvious denizen walking in was the kobold champion fighter and two dire rats. When the party moved in to attack them they were hit from both sides by missile fire from the reappearing rogues and fighters. The round after fighting started, the sorc and cleric made their appearances (in my action the druid was killed while the pary was split). The sorc resumed attacking and the cleric summoned the elemental, and a final combat to the death ensued.

At the time our party had four of its six members present. Mine was (conveniently) in jail for fighting with some half-orc mercs, and another was alte to the session. Although everyone in the party was 8th level, if I hadn't pulled some punches it would have been a TPK. As it was there was one death and one unconscious.

Note that the kobolds in the original adventure had equivalent appropriate to their (higher) levels, so you'll want to tone this down - especially not allowing them to have dragoncraft armor, which would really increase the loot value. For their misc treasure, I just used their list of loot from the adventure. For Gottrod's, I just used the list for a CR10 dragon (we ran Gottrod as a juvenile, though damaged) from the Draconomicon. Be especially careful about the kobold champion's AC: I made it 27 and he was almost unhittable.

Note: the crater map from the original Flame adventure in Dungeon #1 is full-page and on hex grid. Also the pictures make nice additions.

Wow, nice site. Wish my DM had seen it before we ran AoW. Good work guys!

SR.

Not "Guys" but "guy" - the website work is all Koramado. (Submissions, of course, by the public.)

I can assure you that it will be added at some point in the near future. Koramado's already started plotting!

Captramses, just think about what kind of heck they put pederasts through in prison. That feller's going to have a lot more problems than whether or not you were "cool".

Speaking as a bleeding-heart, GOOD!

I have a guy I might play with who does the Driz'zt clone thing.

I was thinking of ganking his darkness, faerie fire, and spell resistance and saying, "Lolth don't love you no more; you're hosed." Is that nice, or am I being an Iron Fisted Tyrant? I'd give him an ecl of 1...

I'm playing a drow right now in the SCAP. The +2 ECL has been quite interesting to deal with, to say the least. The most useful ability has, in fact, been the darkvision: its great for scouting, to say the least. And SR hasn't become an issue yet (he's 6th level).But being one and sometimes two levels behind other pary members can be frustrating, even with the level buyout (which he just did, for the first time).

The real challenge, though, comes with the roleplaying. Without being harsh, some interactions have been ... difficult. But I like that kind of challenge (heck, he's got a 10-page background!). He and the female tiefling made quite an entrance to the Demonskar Ball!!!

As one of Koramado's vic.., er, players, I just had to give a players point of view:

WHAT A FREAKIN' BLAST!!

It was the most fun - I think - we'd had at a session yet. Kudos and a round of Smithwick's to the designer(s) - oh, and DMs smart enough to use it, of course.

Now, back to avoiding SCAP threads....

Syrinx!! Another Rush fan on the Paizo message boards?

I suspect there's a lot of us lurking around here.

Anybody have any thoughts on replicating the effect, say with another weapon type, or is this a unique type of weapon?

I also would mind a hardback....I did not run the age of worms with the magazine because I was waitning for the extras that were giving with shackled citty.

So add one more name to the list that would love to see that book.

Amen. I'd love to have the extra goodies. (perhaps fortunately I won't be starting my AoW campaign until no earlier than Summer '07; gotta finish SC first!)

Hey thanx for the info Samael. Not only did you give me hints on where to get the adventures I was also looking for the Death knights on another post so you help a lot…but do you or anyone know what issue that is?

Dragons 290 and 291, but it looks like Paizo only has 291 in stock. IIRC (I'm at work right now), 291 has the stats on the big four Death Knights and little blurbs on the others. 290 has their back story and the new (at the time) Death Knight template. Both issues are v3.0.

Are there any good adventures that use Demogorgon that I can though at my player before AP3. They have never gone up against Demogorgon and I thought it be fun to throw him at them before they get chances to kill him.

Demogorgon is at least peripherally involved in:

If you can find them (Paizo may still have 'em in stock) there're two Dragon magazines with a two-part article on the Death Knights of Oerth (for which Demogorgon is responsible).

Well, there's always "Wait your turn! I've already got a customer," then wait and see what they do.

In that vein, there's always, "Take a number, please," or, "The line forms over there."

Alright, I'll do that. (I browsed the topic titles before posting, but nothing in my estimated time frame jumped out at me.)

Thanks.

Ok, this may be a strange question for any number of reasons, but I cannot find any sign of what kind of XP players should get or what Big K's CR is. I'm asking because I'm planning a campaign, and I'd like for my players to have the chance to continue on after Dawn of a New Age. Based on Dragotha, I'm guessing at least 30 - and even that's dependant on how effective the party is in weakeningn him.

Any thought? Did I miss something somewhere (wouldn't be the first time)?

"To defeat the most powerful of demon princes, the PCs must negotiate a planar consipiricy aimed at weakening him in his own lair and destroying him once and for all."

Note that "defeat" is NOT the same as "destroy", "kill", "annihilate", etc. Napoleon was defeated but not killed.

Still, just the prospect of taking on big D (and Reaper Minis has an awesome mini call the Demonic Lasher) has me, well, freakin' all a-tingle!!

You gotta figure someone already read it: look who's in the White House.

Does anybody out there have a list of armor and weapon special abilities that were presented only in either Dragon or Dungeon? If so, would you be willing to share?

For example, Dragon #312 has the "Superior Dispelling" ability for weapons. I have most of the abilities, but am afraid that I'm missing some - and I'm trying to put together a complete comprehensive list rather than having to thumb through a plie of resources.

This just bugs me: both are called out as being 12 feet tall, yet per MM a Balor weighs 4,500 pounds while a Pit Fiend weighs 800. What, is the Pit Fiend hollow or something?? (BTW, Pit Fiend takes the Balor; whaddya think??)

(Hey, it could matter: say you want to use "telekinesis" or something on one of 'em.)

Please tell me more about "Jacob's Well" and "Chimes of Midnight", like where to find them, sysnopsis, etc.

Always looking for something new to terrify the party with!!

There they are: both Force Missile and Argent Savant.

Thanks all!

I coulda sworn I once saw a prestige class for a mage specializing in force spells, but for the life of me cannot find ot nor remember the proper name of it. Help!!

Has anybody ever seen or done an epic progression for this prestige class?

If so, are you willing to share (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)??

Exploit your player's weaknesses to the highest degree.

One of the most frustrating adventures I ever played was when my solo epic level (in a 2nd Ed sort of way) paladin/psionicist had to free a lord of the land from the thrall (= charm or domination - never did learn which) of one of his wicked nobles.

Now, this "noble" was either of very low level or possibly even zero level, and my paladin/psionicist well over 20th. This noble was very canny and left no trail, yet I just knew it was him behind all this. But because of my oaths as a paladin, I couldn't use my psionics to explore his mind without probable cause. And I couldn't rightly use physical force because of my oaths. I finally got desperate and challenged him to a duel - and he refused!! I mean look at thsi situation: I've cut down the vilest of demons and devils and slain the greatest of dragons, but this slimy little #*&$^*@# was able to use my oaths against me, defeating me without drawing a weapon!

I did finally resuce the king, so to speak, but the noble was able to get get away. And I never did get my gauntlets on him.

This adventure was run about 12 or 15 years ago, and I'm still p.o.'ed that he got away!!

As a final note, be advised that this adventure was pure role playing: not a single dice was rolled! And it may have been the best single-session adventure I was ever on.

We came across the following issue Saturday night: our dwarf was wieldign an Urgrosh as a double weapon (axe & spear). When doing so, does he get the full 1.5x strength damage bonus since - although its a double weapon - he does have both his hands on a single weapon? Or should he get it only if he's wielding it with both hands as a single (axe OR spear)? We could see both sides of the argument, and couldn't find a clear answer with an quick dive into both the PH and the DMG.

I recently had a streak where two Dragon's and a Dungeon never showed up. I wrote an email to Customer Service asking what was up, and they informed me that the Dragon's had come back undeliverable!! Undeliverable to the PO Box that I have had for about six years and had previously received several years worth of subscriptions! With no prior problems, I must add.

Well, Customer Sevice was fantastic to deal with. They responded within a few hours and sent me replacement copies of all the missing mags. I have since received new issues as before, so I don't know what was up with the USPS.

Paizo's CS has just been fantastic. They really know what the term "service" means.

as in the augenemted critical Extraordinary Ability possessed by some monters (such as the Tarrasque)?

as far as I know in all cases it triples the threat range (to 18-20) and causes the attack to deal tripple damage rather then double.

That's one example. I seem to remember there being others as well, but I'm away from my libraray at present. I'm wondering if there are hard and fast rules for it, or is it DM's discretion? For example, are there guidelines for making a sword with an augmented critical power (and if so what's the value of it)? How about an advanced PrC ability? Or is an augmented critical just any crit function above and beyond that presented for weapons et al?

Does anyone know of some "official" rules for these, or are they just a case-by-case basis?

In a certain infamous 1st ed adventure many years ago...

Mage 1: "Well, I guess I jump in the devil's mouth"
Mage 2: "Me, too"
DM (me): "How about the rest of you?"
All: "We jump in, too."
DM: "Okay. You're all dead."

That may be a little DM-specific humor, but, c'mon, a TPK in first room?! And the two mages were very experienced (as in going back pre-AD&D).

I thought it was funny...

Just curious. I always had the impression its sort of a flat black, but I can't remember where I got that impression and don't ever remember reading it.

Well said one and all. I met up with the Drow player for lunch. He is happy to take two negative ECLs and buy them off at level 2 and 3. Which - it occured to us means that he gets a class level to start with (rogue, 6hp), but no more hp until 4th level when he gets his second class level. Which is tough but he is willing to pay the price.

Time to lay down the law!

If you really want to lay down the law, use the buying out rules from Unearthed Arcana: for an ECL of +2, a character cannot buy back the 1st level until they hit 6th level, and buying back the second has to wait until 9th. He starts off with 3,000 XP, but cannot advance to 2nd level until 6,000 XP. And it will end up costing him a total of 16,000 XP to buy back both levels, not the, what 5,000 that doing so at 2nd and 3rd would take.

For those of you who aren't aware, the 2nd Edition Supplement "Cloak and Dagger" concludes with a well-done & extensive section on Westgate. Not sure if its available for a free download.

Pardon my ignorance, but where can I find the info on a Local Hero?