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Translucent Wolf wrote:

My group was also lacking in 'Fly'. So, they sent Bescaylie, Efrixis, and a group member ahead to inform the defenders that the rest of the group would be teleporting in.

This allowed a delegation of defenders to be waiting at the trap when the group arrived, thus avoiding the golem fight.

One magic item (that is almost a throwaway item you might not notice) in the Hut are ointments that provide Flight.

In Room A8, Witch's Hut, can be found this:
While most of the items in this room are nonmagical, 4 doses of flying ointment (Ultimate Equipment 299) can be found on the shelves, and a habit of the winter explorer (see page 62) hangs on a hook next to the outer door

Flying Ointment: This preparation of herbs includes belladonna, mandrake, and foxglove (also known as “witch’s glove”) in a base of rendered fats. When rubbed over the skin, the ointment grants the subject the ability to fly (as the overland flight spell) for up to 9 hours.

As an aside, my group consisted of four characters, a GMPC, and a large-sized animal companion. I just upped the number of ointments that were found to six.


I'm using it right now. This is how they are getting in good with the Queen of Delights (I'm planning on the Dinner for when they get Vyre to sign a treaty assisting Kintargo, and the dinner companions will be the other Queens and King of Vyre.) While Cheliax controls the Deepmar colony itself, the Queen of Delights has a contract to keep the colony supplied. Also she owes a favor to the daughter of the Captain in charge of the colony (I tossed this in to explain some of the Queen's interest in Deepmar without her being part of the slavery/indentured servant policy of Cheliax).


Okay. I've been looking at the Grundlescorn sisters and... well, honestly I sometimes wonder if the game designers fully understand what spells do. Because Commune allows for (at level 10) 10 yes/no questions. So it's not exactly useful to track down people going into a forest... and honestly, after even just a dozen years, a God or Goddess is going to get pretty damn tired of each day getting a "is there anyone powerful entering our forest?" and probably start quietly wishing some adventurers would show up to gank them. (And as a spell-like ability they aren't even spending 500 gold of incense per casting, so honestly it's a bit insulting for that God being bothered.)

I'm going to change things up a little. The Grundlescorn sisters have crafted pathways through the forest. They have crafted glades as well, peaceful areas that are good places to set up camp before going forth into the forest... and due to the limitation of the Scry spell and Crystal Balls to only scry on people rather than locations, they have kidnapped various couples over the decades and used Baleful Polymorph to transform the couples into turtles, keeping them together so there's a spare in case one dies. (I had considered them turning people into fruit trees but the spell doesn't work that way and as trees they might not count as people anyway.)

So each day they Scry using a Crystal Ball on their turtles. They look at the glades to see if anyone is camping there and thus they have a better idea if anyone is intruding on their forests. (They follow lumberjacks back home to their villages and kidnap children to eat.) And they hate the Strix because those wretched creatures not only protect their children but also fly and are hard to keep track of. And they probably only Commune once a week to avoid annoying their patron Goddess to see if any new powerful threats are planning on entering their forests or have entered their forests.

(Alternatively, one of the Hags could just use their Vision spell-like ability and learn of any Legendary aspects of their forest each day. Characters level 11+ would be included in this, so it would show the Hags any significant threats to their domain. The problem is the Hag in question would be fatigued after the casting.)


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My group loved Artrosa but part of that is some of them love dungeon crawls. One player had to leave and another died (miss you!), so we're trimmed down a bit. I borrowed several ideas that were provided in here and the final battle was an effort to prevent a new Worldwound from opening with increasing swarms of demons coming out... and when the shackles were all broken the demons turned on the transformed priest and dragged him into the Abyss for his failure. Still, having every other turn have three or more demons, increasingly powerful... it freaked my group delightfully. :)

Another thing I did was beef up the Frost Giants a tad. That did make them a lot more dangerous - Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike with a Giant's attack is horrifying. (I've done the same to the Barbarians in the next book, and actually knocked out the high-AC Monk for the first time in a loooong time.)


Name: Shortie
Race: Syrinx
Classes/levels: Paladin (Grey) 4/Bard 4
Adventure: Maiden Mother Crone
Location: Maiden Statue, The Garden Feeder room
Catalyst: Andrazkuz
The Gory Details: The group noticed a Frost Giant slowly making its way up the tunnel toward them (though it had not yet seen them). Rather than attack it where it was vulnerable, they decided to "lure it into a trap" without thinking things through. They picked the door to the tunnel leading to the Garden Feeder room and the Druid cast Stone Spikes along the tunnel... but they failed to consider that the Giant wouldn't just keep moving through spiked stones and didn't cast it to surround the Giant. So when it hit the trap, the giant decided to turn back. It got the Andrazkuz working with it to check out the tunnel.

Meantime, the group decided to rely on the spikes behind them to deter anything coming up behind them, and moved up the tunnel, only to get attacked by the Tendriculos and Poryphanes. When the Andrazkuz made their way to the door (ignoring the spikes) they rolled a Nat. 20 for Perception and opened the door and started toward the rear of the group (who had just finished off the other two foes). They then teleported into the main chamber, used their Righteous Might ability to grow... and became a real threat. (They also managed to summon one additional Andrazkuz.)

That said, the fight was going well for the group until Shortie managed to badly hurt one of the Andrazkus with Smite Evil. The majority of the demons turned on Shortie and brought them down to -2 hit points, and the GMPC Hunter to 5 hp. The group was talking about a possible Total Party Wipe until one of their Oracles badly hurt the demons with a Healing Flames spell while simultaneously bringing the Paladin and Hunter to double-digit hit points.

While there was no "true" death, I'm counting it as the group was seriously thinking they were going to go down. And honestly, I have no idea how the group will prevail against Kirisjana, to the point I've a new GMPC planned to help out - a heal-bot cleric with a vow against killing who could cure their blindness, as I can foresee most of them failing a DC 21 save vs. Blinding Beauty... and no one has any spells to cure blindness. (In this situation the Hunter will die against the debased nymph.)


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Fear not for I mentioned your name to Baba Yaga over tea.

She was puzzled. "Aslynn you say? My janitor you fear?"

This plunger she gave me and words for you, you wannabe seer,

Get back to work! Dimensions Seven and Twelves are still clogged with Elvanna's tears.


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So. Back on topic, I am curious how long it'll be before we get actual details as to what will be in the ORC license. I do hope that everyone involved agrees on transparency for this process seeing that Ha$boro and Wot€ have failed to realize is important for customer loyalty and keeping the rumor bay from going rampant.


Leon Aquilla wrote:
guillaumeag wrote:
FYI WotC respond to the community on D&D Beyond.

We're 72 hours beyond that news cycle.

Essentially it's "oh hey, please don't abandon us, we won't completely rape and pillage this community!" One employee of WotC already stated that the upper management plans on letting the outcry die down, everyone to forget, and THEN to slam out the new super-restrictive OGL without caring. They only are seeing the bottom line for immediate profits and thinking they can bully content creators into toeing the line and rob them of everything of interest.


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I had actually been planning on creating a new campaign using the 5e rules. WotC basically dissuaded me from that and I am definitely sticking with Pathfinder and will never buy another D&D product again. Paizo's decision to craft the ORC with assistance from other third-party game developers helped cement that decision. Thank you, Paizo.


zimmerwald1915 wrote:
Tangent101 wrote:
When open rebellion breaks out, she will likely come out into the open and align House Victocora with the Ravens.
What does this actually mean? Her retainers in the city are probably dead or fled, and her properties would have passed to her heirs or, if there were none (Rexus, laying low, may have waived his claim, but I doubt he is the only one out there) been held in escrow or seized by the state. She may have enough living retainers from out in the countryside loyal enough to fight, and that might be good for a bonus team.

Thematically it means that one of the Noble Houses that everyone KNOWS Thrune destroyed... is in fact still around, even if they don't have their properties at the moment. No doubt they did have retainers who were not at home when things went down and went into hiding, but mostly it's a PR aspect. It shows that Thrune is not all powerful... and that you can oppose them.

Also, it shows that Thrune is lying time and time again - they were claiming that House Victocora was destroyed by their daughter who had been locked away and then sided with cultists and rewards were offered for information on the "lost Victocora" and that this "insane Victocora" had animated "her" parents as zombies (so to basically undermine efforts by the PCs to reveal what Thrune had done and hopefully turn the nobles against him)... so having Porcia show up and say "my son Rexus is here, and has been working with me to stop the man who murdered my husband" will basically f#!! up a lot of lies.

It will also help with political shenanigans - I'm going to have Porcia help the PCs with a lot of knowledge about the other noble families, seeing she was frequently in contact with them and thus would know their interests and desires. I mean, they essentially used a magic item that acts as a True Resurrection for an NPC. Naturally I'll reward them. ^^


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Early on, my group decided they'd try to bring back Rexus' parents. However, they knew it was a long shot due to needing resurrection magic. So it was going to take a while.

One thing found in the treasury for the old thieves' guild was an Elixir of Life brewed from a Philosopher Stone. It acts as a True Resurrection spell. In tonight's game, my group asked Rexus which parent they should bring back. Rexus chose Porcia, and her gasp of breath and asking where she was was the note on which I ended tonight's game.

I'm curious as to if anyone else has had them brought back and what they had the characters do.

According to online info, Porcia is a level 4 Investigator/level 4 Aristocrat. I've already crafted stats for her:

Porcia's stats:

Porcia Victocora CR 7
XP 3,200
Human (Chelaxian) aristocrat 4/investigator 4 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 30)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +10
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 12, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+1 deflection, +1 natural)
hp 53 (8d8+9)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +12 (+2 against attempts to scry on you or read your mind); +2 bonus vs. poison
Defensive Abilities trap sense +1
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks studied combat (+2, 4 rounds), studied strike +1d6
Investigator Extracts Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +8)
2nd—fox's cunning, investigative mind[ACG]
1st—cure light wounds, disguise self, identify, urban grace[ARG]
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 16
Feats Careful Speaker[ISWG], Magical Aptitude, Noble Scion of Lore[ISWG], Persuasive, Sense Assumptions[UI]
Skills Bluff +8 (+10 to fool someone, +10 to pass secret messages), Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +4, Disguise +8, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (arcana) +11, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +11, Knowledge (engineering) +11, Knowledge (geography) +16, Knowledge (history) +16, Knowledge (local) +16, Knowledge (nature) +11, Knowledge (nobility) +18, Knowledge (planes) +11, Knowledge (religion) +11, Perception +10, Perform (dance) +8, Ride +5, Sense Motive +10, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +5, Use Magic Device +8
Languages Ancient Osiriani, Celestial, Common, Elven, Tien
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +4), inspiration (6/day), investigator talent (intelligence inspiration[ACG]), keen recollection, poison lore, swift alchemy, trapfinding +2
Other Gear investigator starting formula book
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Alchemy +4 (Su) +4 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Careful Speaker +2 bonus on some Bluff checks and some Will saves
Inspiration (+1d6, 6/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Intelligence Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration with Knowledge, Linguistics, Spellcraft even when untrained.
Keen Recollection At 3rd level, an investigator can attempt all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Noble Scion of Lore You are a member of a proud noble family.
Poison Lore (Ex) After 1 min can use Know to ID poisons, 1 min more to neutralize with Craft (alchemy).
Sense Assumptions Discern which lies would be unbelievable
Studied Combat (+2, 4 rounds) (Ex) As a move action, study foe to gain bonus to att & dam for duration or until use studied strike.
Studied Strike +1d6 (Ex) As a free action on a melee hit, end studied combat vs. foe to add precision dam.
Swift Alchemy (Ex) Construct alchemical items in half the normal time.
Trap Sense +1 (Ex) +1 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Trapfinding +2 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.

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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.

Given it's a couple months in and the hidden library was taken out first thing, she's not going to have *too* much she can add to things. I'm thinking initially she will remain "dead" to the world, excepting to the Silver Ravens and their allies (and that will be a most interesting surprise to spring on the others who are allying themselves to the Ravens). When open rebellion breaks out, she will likely come out into the open and align House Victocora with the Ravens. It should be most interesting to see where things go. And no doubt I'll figure out something to do with Porcia in the meanwhile! ;)


Something whimsical in me is amused at the thought of ghosts and other immaterial beings being affected by Stench because they're already like a wisp of wind and so they're offended by the horrendous smell. ;)


If you're fighting a monster underwater, would it get its Stench ability? For instance, do Troglodytes get their Stench ability underwater, or Globsters?

I could easily suggest it doesn't, as you don't really smell underwater, it's more a sense of taste and Stench is described as an "oily chemical" which wouldn't mix with water when compared to air. But Pathfinder never specifies so....


Given that Rexus is described as being of more delicate health, it could be that the potions are meant to fight another chronic medical condition. (Rexus could even have been born intersex with the female characteristics predominant but he identified as male.) The potions could be to treat diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, which would very much require regular treatment, and could be a comorbid condition.


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He's a very good boy! ^^

Thank you for sharing your journals ^^


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Hee! I'm liking the party composition so far! It'll be fascinating seeing an Investigator in action with this group. Though the lack of a dedicated melee unit will prove most interesting (unless our 8-year-old girl ends up being a halfling monk with the feat letting her pretend to be human). Good luck to you all! ^^


Thank you for the heads up! :)


I have to say, thank you so much for playing this monstrosity of an AP. I now know not to ever run it. And I hope that Paizo is reading this thread carefully to learn what NOT to do in the future. *sigh*


Amusingly enough, my second gaming group going through RoW (the first group fell apart when half of the group kept refusing to coordinate with the others on when they could get together for a game) blew off Greta without much interest. That said, the first group? The player running the Rimepelt PC decided to have his PC freak out at Greta hitting on him. My latest group? Well... the girl playing a kitsune Oracle chose discretion as the better part of valor, no doubt partly due to the jealous half-orc barbarian who has latched onto her (played by her RL boyfriend who is actually fairly chill).

The encounter played out a little differently as well as I'm co-GMing this time around and primarily handle combat. Part of the group already had passes to Whitethrone (a mercenary and my rogue due to her backstory) so we walked in. The others had to talk their way in with help from the kitsune pretending to be a winter wolf. ^^;;


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I like how you handled it.

So, asking about APs you enjoyed... what was your thoughts about Hell's Rebels? I mean, there are some problems, but one aspect I genuinely like about the AP is that it allows for non-combat solutions of problems all the way up toward the end of the AP (including in Book 6). Mind you, my group is currently halfway through Book 2 so I'm not sure of ALL the problems... but it's proving fun so far.

Also, Reign of Winter most decidedly doesn't include time travel. But it does involve traveling to other worlds. My personal opinion is that the incentive for the PCs to save the world really depends too much on the players wanting to save the world rather than giving their characters incentives to save Heldren (the town where they start the AP) but fortunately my group chose to be heroes.


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I had a similar issue, though with one player who was playing someone who was fast and loose with laws (but still good). I found the way to turn the PCs to support him was to have the Scarnettis up their powerplays and try to oust Hemlock. They truly hated the Scarnetti family (with the above player being an illegitimate kid brother of the head of the Scarnetti family). So while they "hate" Hemlock, they refused to allow Scarnetti to get rid of him or replace him with someone who'd allow Scarnetti corruption to continue.

Basically, the Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend sort of thing.

So start playing up how the Scarnettis are scum, have them start badmouthing Hemlock, make sure the Scarnetti plots negatively impact the players, and you'll see them supporting Hemlock even if they "hate" him.


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Here. The Elvanna Simulacrum (lvl 10 version).

Spoiler:

Elvanna Simulacrum lv 10
Human (Jadwiga) winter witch 5/witch (winter witch) 5 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Magic, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 65)
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Hero Points 1
Init +7; Senses Perception +18
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 18, touch 17, flat-footed 15 (+2 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 enhancement, +1 natural)
hp 77 (10d6+35)
Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +10
Resist cold 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk icy burst quarterstaff +4 (1d6-1 plus 1d6 cold)
Special Attacks hexes (cackle[APG], evil eye[APG], frostfoot, frozen caress, ice tomb[UM])
Winter Witch Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +7)
2/day—sculpt ice and snow
Witch Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +14)
Constant—endure elements (cold only)
Witch (Winter Witch) Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +14)
5th—baleful polymorph (DC 20), cone of cold (DC 22)
4th—charm monster (DC 19), crushing despair (DC 19), greater false life[UM]
3rd—dispel magic, howling agony[UM] (DC 18), ice spears (DC 20), lightning bolt (DC 18)
2nd—detect thoughts (DC 17), disfiguring touch[UM] (DC 17), flurry of snowballs (DC 19), frost fall[UC] (DC 19), spectral hand
1st—charm person (DC 16), chill touch (DC 16), ill omen[APG], lock gaze[UC] (DC 16), snowball[UW], unshakable chill[UM] (DC 18)
0 (at will)—detect magic, detect poison, message, ray of frost
Patron Winter
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 21, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +4; CMB +3; CMD 18
Feats Accursed Hex[UM], Alertness, Combat Casting, Elemental Focus (cold)[APG], Improved Initiative, Toughness
Traits seeker, world traveler
Skills Appraise +15, Bluff +15, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (history) +18, Knowledge (nature) +18, Knowledge (nobility) +18, Perception +18, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +18
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Giant, Skald, Sylvan
SQ freeze and thaw, unnatural cold, witch's familiar (raven named Svoboda)
Other Gear mwk icy burst quarterstaff, cackling hag's blouse[UE], robe of components[UE], stone salve, 140 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
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Accursed Hex Target a creature with a hex a second time that day if it made its save the first time
Cackle (Su) As a move action, extend the duration of other hexes by 1 rd.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Elemental Focus (Cold) +1 DC to spells that deal damage of the chosen energy.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Evil Eye -4 (8 rounds, DC 20) (Su) Foe in 30 ft takes penalty to your choice of AC, attacks, saves, ability or skill checks (Will part).
Familiar Bonus: +3 to Appraise checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Freeze and Thaw (2/day) (Su) Freeze or thaw a 5-ft. cube of water or ice, or 10-ft cube of snow.
Frostfoot (Su) This ability works like the spider climb spell, but the surfaces the witch climbs must be icy. The witch can move across icy surfaces without penalty and does not need to make Acrobatics checks to run or charge on ice. She can move across regu
Frozen Caress (Su) Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell’s effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a su
Ice Tomb (DC 20) (Su) A storm of ice and freezing wind envelops the creature, which takes 3d8 points of cold damage (Fortitude half). If the target fails its save, it is paralyzed and unconscious but does not need to eat or breathe while the ice lasts. The ice has 20 hit
Sculpt Ice and Snow (stone shape, 2/day) (Sp) At 4th level, a winter witch can sculpt ice and snow into any shape that suits her purpose (as stone shape, except that it works with ice). This ability also works on snow, doubling the volume affected. At 7th level, this ability functions on
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak with Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Unnatural Cold (Su) Targets of your spells, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities halve cold resistance.
Witch's Familiar (Ex) Gain the services of a special familiar that stores spells.

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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.


In the case of Nazhena, I'd have a Level 8 version of a Elvanna Simalacrum with her (have the Icy Burst quarterstaff just be a Frost Quarterstaff). Best of all, it can easily walk through the Antilife Shell, so it even has a logical reason for being there - checking on Nazhena and giving her orders - and the *ability* to be there.


CorvusMask wrote:

Well simulacrums ARE made out of snow...

...Ya know in retrospect pretty weird they never used that.

Anyway, on sidenote, what is your preferred interpretation of what kind of villain Elvanna actually is personality wise? (my preference is from how my gm run her: ice cold and stoic)

I'd have her basically be "superior to thou" - she looks down her nose at your heroes, insults their accomplishments, tells them that they won't prevail, and acts as if she's lessening herself by talking to them.

Even when a simulacrum is about to die, have it never lose its calm. It has ice water in its veins. Literally. ;)


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Actually, one method of having Elvanna show up more often is the use of the Simulacrum spell. This would allow for a Level 10 version of Elvanna causing mischief for the PCs in Maiden Mother Crone. Hell, a lower-level version of her (level 7 or 8) would work in place of Nazhena guarding the Hut in The Shackled Hut, and several Elvanna simulacrums working in tandem could even give a higher-level group difficulty in the one with the dragon riders.

That way the PCs can grow to hate her even before they encounter her in Book 6. Hell, if you have a couple Simulacrums working with Elvanna in the end of Book 6, you end up with versions of her able to use hexes on the group while the Queen becomes a more viable threat - and yes, the PCs can probably eliminate the Simulacrums within a round or two but that eats up their action economy - especially if they don't know WHICH one is the proper Queen Elvanna.


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This instance may actually call for the use of Troop rules. That way they can still fight Nightgaunts but have them be an actual threat.


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Truth be told? Go with the player most likely to have fun with it. Ignore charisma and the like. Instead, indulge in having fun with a player who is going to enjoy this side-plot. I've done that twice now. Each time the group had an absolute blast watching this play out (and play interference as each time someone else came along and intercepted the father).


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My spouse was in one such campaign. They looted the doors and ignored the dungeon. The owner of the dungeon was quite pissed off and insisted on being reimbursed by the party doing some quests for the entity or something like that, but I'm not entirely sure.

Another time they looted an entire dungeon, but just as they were leaving one PC tossed a few copper into the dungeon and honestly said they didn't loot *everything* - once the people who recruited them to clear the dungeon investigated, they were a bit annoyed. ;)


So. The old game fizzled out years ago but I've a new group and we've been very much enjoying RoW (and I'm actually getting to run my own PC now, though I'm an Assistant GM this time around handling the technical details for Roll20). Little hijinks we've had happen include the Haunted Oracle's curse "meddling" with the Oracle's cooking to craft something hallucinogenic, an Atomie using Shrink Item on the Barbarian's favorite Axe, and best of all when the group was checking the bottom of a flying ship they were on (obviously some GM-crafted content!) for stowaways and found a Skeletal Lord and a bunch of zombies clinging to the back of the ship (a little story involving a necromancer and my new PC who was mentored by the necromancer) where the Skeletal Lord raised his bone finger to his mouth and said "I don't suppose you could pretend you didn't see me?"


Okay. If you want "ancient evil" sort of thing, I might suggest "Maiden, Mother, Crone" from the Reign of Winter AP series. It's three giant statues each with a dungeon inside, each part connected by teleport portals. The final encounter takes place in a pit that ages things and drives them insane - that sounds very much like something for an Ancient Evil that is or had been trapped within.


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That was a truly impressive and epic spell battle. Thank you for sharing your write-up :)


Attic Whisperers have the ability to steal breath (cause fatigue, exhaustion, or sleep) with their touch. The rules specify that if someone who is Exhausted is touched by the Attic Whisperer, they fall asleep for an hour and cannot be woken before then without killing the Attic Whisperer or doing one or several spells.

If someone were only Fatigued or Exhausted by an Attic Whisperer, would their attacks which caused fatigue/exhaustion (or the bite stealing the voice of the person) go away? Or would the victim still have to wait for an hour? Seeing that it specifies that sleeping people can only be woken with specific magic or by killing the Whisperer, it suggests that killing the undead would possibly undo other effects as well. But seeing it's not specified, it could be read the other way as well.

What are your thoughts on this?


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Yay! Thank you for sharing this hella awesome ending for this quest. :) It's been quite the ride and I've enjoyed every moment of it. :)


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If I ever ran this I'd modify them to be several Hill Giant Troops. Auto-hits, auto-damages. Sure, it takes more damage from AoE attacks but if the PCs try to do something like Disintegrate or Magic Missile? No sell.


If I remember correctly, once someone has been Judged by Pharasma, there is no Resurrection possibility. Xanderghul should have been dead a long, long time ago. He escaped his first Judgement with the little twist he had planned for if he died. Once the party kills him, she wastes no time in Judging him and sending him to where he needs to go.


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I agree that Rasputin is the best antagonist of RoW. Well, there's this wonderful thing about a Level 20 Oracle of whatever type Rasputin is: when they die, a couple days later he comes back as a Ghost.

Rasputin is the perfect End Boss. Well, what if he manipulated Elvanna into thinking she was in charge while he was stealing Baba Yaga's Mythic Ranks to ascend into Godhood?

My old group self-destructed because one player felt game sessions should happen when he felt like it rather than when the group could meet, but I'm now co-GMing a new group through RoW. And my co-GM loves the idea of Rasputin being the Final Big Bad.

After the group faces Elvanna, Rasputin is going to Possess her, flee before the end, and then we'll put the group through the level 17 module concerning Elvanna's efforts to get a certain Torque... only level it up to 20 and have Elvanna/Rasputin as the end boss. With Mythic Tiers.


Each map is different. Some are 5 feet per square. Some are 10 feet per square. Some are even larger. So always double-check the sizes. (Also note that sometimes there are mistakes done on the sizes. So be sure to check for errata and the like!)


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Okay. I like that the Big Bad said "I'm outta here!" Though I smell a trap because why tell the good guys you're booking it unless you want them to rush on ahead and get hit by traps? ^^

Thank you for sharing this campaign journal :)


Honestly, you don't need to run Shattered Star next. It's not as good of an AP as RotRL and has a lot of save-or-suck monsters and things in the module that bypass players' abilities just for the heck of it. Just assume it happened and start the players with new characters in Return of the Runelords.


My group managed it as well without much in the way of casualties, seeing they caught a glimpse of the giants in the early morning and called an alarm. Nearly everyone evacuated. In fact, one character was quite put out that she couldn't subdue the dragon because she wanted a pet dragon. ^^;; I even added a pair of assassins attacking (due to the Scarnettis) immediately after the dragon was taken down.


So, I'm currently co-GMing Reign of Winter with my spouse, and they weren't feeling that good tonight so I took the reins. That said, I had their notes and had talked to them about consequences and the like for the assault on the Clock Tower, and started the group off just outside of the Clock Tower. And the group decided a frontal assault was... not a good idea. So they started planning it out instead.

First, thanks to a spectacular Knowledge: History roll by their Barbarian/Skald, they knew that the two statues outside were of Queen Betyrina and her daughter Zivia, known for their clockwork creations. Realizing that there were likely clockwork entities within as well as trolls, and their weapons were not likely to be effective, they backed off to do research.

Adamantine is bloody expensive. Ariam (my GMPC) admitted she had five adamantine bullets but that they were bloody expensive. (As an aside, it's odd that an adamantine bullet is a one-shot effect. I can understand that for weapon blanche (and honestly, seeing you can use that for 10 pieces of ammunition, it's cheaper than actual adamantine bullets for the same effect), but why can't it be pulled from a body and reused, even if it still costs a little bit to recraft the bullet each time.)

There was also a discussion about the Blood Oath/Mantle of the Black Rider, and the geas that is pushing the PCs forward. Currently, there are two PCs who do not have the Mantle, but I had the PCs in possession of the Black Rider's helm, which can be used to induct new people to the Mantle.

Solveig was told that they were doing recon on the Tower and realized they needed Adamantine for some of the defenders. While she was a little regretful (seeing she was hoping to see her old girlfriend again), she also understood. She and the Heralds went out to look for possible Adamantine weapons and some adamantine chunks for Ariam.

(Interestingly enough, a discussion about my spouse's old PC came up, who had been captured by the Witches using teleportation magic when the PC helped close the Winter Portal. The group seemed quite sure that the PC would not betray the group to the Witches. They also felt that the death of my previous GMPC (and sister of the old PC) would piss them off when they found out.)

Talk came back to Lord Logan and his pet dragon, and how to lure him out. They considered using the Tree Token to create a tree to climb to the tower, but realized it would not be at all subtle. The use of the Bird Token to send Logan a message was also considered and discarded. And finally the use of illusions to hide their presence and pretend guards were going up the tower was considered... and one PC realized "wait. We can disguise ourselves as members of the Winter Guard."

They turned to Solveig who after talking to a couple other Heralds admitted they could steal a few uniforms from the Winter Guard (when the uniforms are being laundered). This is actually how they entered the Pale Tower, btw. They dressed up as Pale Tower guards, entered, went to the second floor, encountered the captain of the tower, charmed her, and were able to reach Radovek and murder him.

They considered then how to get in. They could warn Logan that the Butchers of Waldsby were seen, but that would warn the Witches that the PCs were in Winterthrone. Then they thought of the forger, Morton, and thought about paying him to craft fake orders. And they scouted out the Clock Tower and saw a child being delivered. After visiting an orphanage they acquired a requisition order and plan on disguising (with Disguise Self) one of the PCs to look like a child.

Finally, silencing an alarm was big. They realized that Silence was most likely going to be of use here, as would Silent Spells.

That's where we wrapped up. The group was contemplating whether they should just march to the top of the tower, kill Logan and his dragon first thing, or start with the elite troll guard and risk Logan being forewarned. Most likely they'll march to the top first pretending initially to be guards with a child delivery, and fight once they get caught, reach Logan quickly, silence the bells (and risk of alerting outside guards), and kill Logan. Finally they'd descend, free the singer trapped in the Tower along with any still-living children, and when done burn the tower to the ground.

Next game is in two weeks. We'll see if the plan survives first contact.


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keftiu wrote:
Can this Galt talk maybe go in its own thread?

Mr. Jacobs commented on adventures having themes. So I was offering ideas along that line - plothooks from which to build adventures upon. With Galt, I was discussing ways that an adventure built there would vary from expected norms. Do note, there are far better ways to get discussions to go onto tangents than yelling at people having an actual reasonable discussion - you easily could have sidetracked folk by taking an element of that discussion and running with that away from the Galt discussion and it would have worked far better. (My handle was chosen for a reason. I'm the queen of going off on tangents.)


To be honest, a Galt campaign could go the opposite route. Rather than trying to overthrow the Grey Gardeners or the like, a Galt campaign could be about Revolutionaries who are in fact evil PCs who are seeking to further their own ambitions and doing so by becoming essential to the Gardeners. It doesn't need to be QUITE as evil as the Hell's Vengeance campaign (as in Neutral characters could actually be potentially possible in the campaign) but still go darker than most other APs have been.

One of the benefits of a campaign with Galt could be that rather than a plot with high stakes, this one is about furthering the PCs own power and ensuring the "stability" of the existing power structure in Galt. And there could even be geopolitical aspects (such as Taldor or Andoran being involved in the anti-Grey Gardener plots).


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To be honest, there are quite a few areas that have NEVER been touched in an AP. I mean, an AP set in the Mana Waste (and introducing 2nd ed. firearm rules) would be fantastic to see, as would an AP in Andoran, Jalmeray, or the Five Kings Mountains. The following ideas are given freely with no claims to the ideas provided within and waiving any legal right to the stories within.

Andoran would be fantastic to see a story where the PCs are fighting a plot to overthrow the democratically-elected government - perhaps it's a Chelish plot to punish Andoran for its role in Hell's Vengeance (or even an attempt by something else to create the illusion of Chelish involvement to create a war between the two nations, perhaps masterminded by an Blue Great Wyrm. (We need to have more APs where dragons are masterminding the events. They are creatures of awe and fear, and having one be manipulating events all along... that is something that would be enjoyable to see!)

Jalmeray could start out as a trading expedition that turns bad after people start being murdered. As the PCs start investigating, they learn of the political machinations on the island which include those who are interested in the outside world, and those who would isolate the kingdom at all costs, while the political situation in Geb threatens to also create unrest in the island kingdom.

With the Five Kings Mountains, we could learn about Dwarven culture and deal with a threat to the region due to a threat from the Darklands emerging from the ruins of the Dwarven city of Jernashall, or possibly start there as part of a dwarven expedition to try and retake the Sky Citadel of Jormurdun found in the northwest of the former Worldwound's Frostmire region.


That sounds about right.


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Golarion being frozen into a ball of ice by the Queen of Irrisen.

I mean, you DO go to two different planets (outside of Golarion) in Reign of Winter....


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Well now, that's interesting.

I like how your group figured out how the deal was cursed, and also how to avoid the Grim Reaper's abilities. :)

Thank you for sharing this campaign journal, btw. It's been a lot of fun :)


You could also rule that the Conjuration version is only found in Irrisen. Thus if you want to get this version of the spell, you have to go to Irrisen and deal with the Witches.


Thread Necromancers' Guild wrote:
UD Sentient Squirrel Swarm wrote:

*rrrrRAAAAAAAAUUGHHHhhhhhh***

Behold, for We have emerged from the beyond, stronGAR THAN EVAAAAR! And with saber teeth!

The Swarm will consume you all and raise you in the Perfection that is Undeath!

It's alive! Alive!

If it's alive then it's not Necromancy.


The rules state that if you have Cover, you gain a +2 to your Reflex save vs. Dragon's breath.

But what if the breath weapon uses a Fortitude save instead - for instance, the Gold Dragon's Weakening breath, or a Silver Dragon's paralysis breath? The breath weapon is still a cone, but as it does not state the save is Reflex-based, will it ignore the Cover bonus?


I rewrote Wex to be a Slayer. My group hasn't encountered him yet however, they're currently working on street gangs and a secondary story I crafted so there's a legit reason for Barzillai to notice and reward the party at the end of Book 2.

Here's my write-up for him:

Spoiler:

Varl Wex CR 9
XP 6,400
Male human (Varisian) expert 1/slayer (cutthroat) 9 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 53, 119)
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +13
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 shield)
hp 107 (10 HD; 1d8+9d10+40)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +7 (+2 bonus vs. detect thoughts, discern lies, and similar mind-reading magic)
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Offense
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Speed 35 ft.
Melee Balgorrah +14/+9 (1d4+4/18-20) or
dagger +12/+7 (1d4+3/19-20)
Ranged dagger +11 (1d4+3/19-20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +3d6, studied target +2 (2nd, swift action)
--------------------
Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 27
Feats Dodge, Fleet, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Focus (kukri)
Skills Acrobatics +14 (+18 when in an urban setting), Bluff +13, Climb +15, Craft (mechanical) +11, Disable Device +15, Disguise +1, Escape Artist +15, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (planes) +5, Perception +13, Stealth +24
Languages Abyssal, Common, Varisian
SQ opportune target, slayer talents (foil scrutiny[ACG], surprise attacks, weapon training), stab and grab, stalker, street stalker
Combat Gear potion of shield of faith +2 (3); Other Gear +1 shadow studded leather, +1 buckler, Balgorrah, dagger, slippers of spider climbing, masterwork thieves' tools, 112 gp
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Special Abilities
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Foil Scrutiny +2 on Will saves vs. mind-reading magics.
Improved Iron Will (1/day) Can re-roll a Will save, but must take the second result.
Opportune Target (Ex) During surprise round, can study one foe as free action to choose his studied target.
Sneak Attack +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Stab and Grab (Ex) As a swift action, attempt steal maneuver vs. dead/unconscious foe or when confirm a crit.
Stalker (Ex) Studied target bonus applies to Disguise, Intimidate, and Stealth as well.
Street Stalker (Acrobatics) (Ex) Gain a bonus on the chosen skill when in an urban environment.
Studied Target +2 (swift action, 2 at a time) (Ex) Study foe as a Swift action, gain +2 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
Surprise Attacks +4 (Ex) In surprise round, foes always flat-footed and add bonus sneak attack dam.
--------------------

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