Sanguinis's page

Finally chronicled all the deaths in my game.

1. Anafel, Elf Witch 2, died to Haunted Hillside
2. Carson, 1/2 Orc Barbarian 2, died to Haunted Hillside and Stag Lord
3. Javelin, Elf Rogue 2 or 3, died to Owlbear in Stag Lord's Fort
4. Devore, Human Druid 4, died to Lizardmen
5. Jacob, Human Paladin 4, died to Will'o'Wisp in Lizardmen fort
6. Kepple, Halfling Ranger 5, died to Owlbear'o'doom
7. Anafel, Elf Witch 6, died to rando' Trolls
8. Yohan, 1/2ling Bard & Baron 6, died in Troll Lair
9. Barry, Human Cleric 6, died in Troll Lair
10. Krolm, Gnome Sorcerer 6, died in Troll Lair
11. Morias, Human Monk 6, died in Troll Lair
12. Yohan, 1/2ling Bard & Duke 8, died to Kepple (#6 from above, Dominate Person rocks! I mean...I'm really sorry that I caused a player to die.)
13. Morias, Human Monk 8, died to Lich
14. Yoahn, 1/2ling Bard & Duke 8, died to Lich (same session, 2 or 3 hours after #12)

They prefer the knock on door and see what opens it method, hence the high death count.

As an exercise into using the mass combat rules, I grabbed up some demons to see if I am using the rules right, came up with the following.

Now I just need to get my guys to go to the Worldwound or something.

Are the city district maps used at all, other than being a good graphical representation of the city? My players and I have been being kinda lazy and using an excel sheet one of the guys worked up to do the kingdom building. If we're going to need them for the mass combat rules though, then I'd like to get started putting them together.

My guys came up with a Royal Geologist...or something of that nature to coordinate the mining activities in the kingdom. Other than that most NPCs have been getting mayor positions in their various cities.

I had six, now it's seven. You'll need to up the creatures a bit. With the focus fire, baddies will disappear pretty fast no matter how many hp they have. I've taken to using the Advanced template and adding in minions with the bad guys so the characters have multiple creatures to face.

I used Kilcoyne's recommendations for the first book (very good by the way, worked really well!) and with the 2nd & 3rd books, I've taken to just running things a bit more off the cuff. I try to just add in a minion or two, add in armor if the creature could wear it, Advance creatures, etc. In short, whatever I think will make it more of a challenge. Then I normally just the same xp they would have gotten if they'd been a 4 person group who beat the regular encounter in the book.

Use the first book, and the beginning of the second to feel out your pc's strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to do alot more impromptu changes so that you can challenge the characters more.

Yeah I'm really finding that with the xp in the books, it's pretty difficult to add anything extra into the game. They got to Varnhold and they are maybe 4k from leveling to 8 and still haven't finished exploring the town. Although the rest of book 3 looks like an area where things might slow down xp wise, so maybe I'll throw some of my own concoctions in to the book.

Just wondering Jason, how many cities are your guys planning on building? My guys weren't planning on that many, but then decided to build on top of the abandoned ferry south of Stag Lord's fort, then the Tazlford city showed up, and now they are building a city to be closer to the Varnhold area (for a relief column, to spur trade, to provide a good base for the conquering army...all three ideas are getting thrown around!)

Along with the three you mentioned, those three ran the total up to six pretty fast. Once those major items start selling,things just start rolling!

Also, what are some of the names people have come up with for Kingdoms and Cities? Mine are below.

Kingdom: New Freeland (Don't ask why it's new when there wasn't an Old one...)
Cities: Fort Javelin (Stag Lord's Keep), Stag's Rest (Old Temple of Erastil), Olegton, Tazlford, Fey Wild, and Freehold

Oh and I forgot to mention, they are in month 36-40 of kingdom building for my guys. Total time in game so far something like 4 years. Took them a while to explore in the first book and they made a couple trips back to Restov if I remember right.

So I've been wondering how other people's kingdoms are developing? Currently my group just hit fifty something hexes and started in on Book 3.We're using the rules as is, with no changes as of yet.

Right now they currently have five cities, with one or two close to needing another city district map. They are selling magic items out of each city (4xMajor, 1xMinor). They just laid the groundwork for city six.

The scores for the checks are hovering between 70-90 for the various three stats.To speed up the checks, I'm allowing them to take 10s as long as they have no unrest or it's not an event check.

Farms are currently enough where they don't pay consumption on any of their holdings.

Every hex has been roaded over.

For unrest, they had some trouble during book two when a certain troublemaker came to town and they got some bad events rolls. I think it got up to five or six at one point.

Just wondering how things are developing in other games?

Quick factoid since I read here and somewhere else about someone wanting a metal quarterstaff. A steel quarterstaff 6ft. long and 1 inch think would weight 22 lbs. (left off the rounding). So a mithral one would weigh around 11 lbs. I don't see very many mages being able to haul one of these around.

Read a book and that's how they had the character with the garrote do his thing. Like your way better though! Yeah, I would in no way let a player in my game use it outside a grapple. Just wasn't sure you could deal damage with it in a grapple as a two handed weapon. Would sure be nice if they'd put it into the weapon text though to clarify.

Now the question is that as a two handed weapon, do you get the 1.5x Strength and Power Attack 1:3 ratio? I say yes and it actually makes this a very worthwhile weapon for any sneaker with a decent CMB/CMD. Like I said above, you're not going to be killing most BBEGs with this thing, but against guards, the damage over two or three rounds should be enough to wipe them out without worrying about the horrible strangulation rules.

In my mind, the as a standard action says it all. I expect my players with this feat to say, "I'm cleaving into my opponent." It's a separate action from just a pure attack action, casting a spell or anything else.

Thread I found(Are the suffocation rules ridiculous)..

Everybody seems to want to concentrate on the suffocation rules (and it uses suffocation rules, which are sadly worse than drowning rules(there is a difference, somehow)). I'd rather just check out if the weapon could damage people in a grapple, as that would be quicker.

Also, as most people in the above thread discussed the purpose of a garrote was never meant to be to cut off air supply. It was supposed to cut off blood supply or alternatively cut into or crush vital breathing (and blood transferring) bits. That would in my mind would be what the damage ability on this thing would be.

So I'm just looking for a clarification if this thing can be used to damage in a grapple (technically a two handed weapon, so according to the grappling rules it cannot). If not, then why bother giving it a damage code?

Maybe this question was already asked, but I'm wondering when a Garrote's weapon damage comes into play?

1. Does it get incurred during the choke option and/or initial grapple?

2. If not, then can I use it to damage an opponent in a grapple, even though it's a Two-Handed Weapon? If so do I then get 1.5x Str and improved Power attack ratio? If so I'm kinda digging this option instead of choke (character with 18 str and at 1st lvl doing 1d6+9, not a bad thing). It's hell of a lot better option than waiting the 20 rounds for a character with 10 constitution to expire due to suffocation.

With my lvl 1 strangler you can:

Grapple the soon to be corpse (STBC)

Then next round pin them (I don't like my STBC hitting back at me), and then start doing damage in the rounds afterward.

After that, with my lvl 1 sample strangler above, you're hitting the STBC for 1d6+9 and they get to gurgle and lamely struggle as you break vital breathing bits.

This seems to work a lot better (especially with the low level guards you're likely to be taking out silently to get at the BBEG)

From the viewpoint of an outsider (you left witnesses!):

Strangler comes out of shadows, secures garrote around STBC. (Surprise round)

Opponent fights back as you move your knee up and into their spine so that they can't fight back anymore and you have leverage. (Next round)

Garrote begins cutting into/breaking vital breathing bits. (Third round)

Oh and since corpses and constructs don't breathe, remember +1
Brilliant Energy Garrote! Umm...just hope they ignore the glow, but at least coifs and collars won't be a problem.

Thanks for the help!