Testament's page

The thing that I like most about that picture is the fact of what's really going on- if you look at the poster itself on Paizo, that rift that all of those worms are falling through- if you look closely- is Kyuss himself. In the background, there's what looks like a huge cloak with the opening in the hood pouring out all of these thousands of garguantuan worms.

Oh, I love the end of the world.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs. Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height, down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

Sorry, I just couldn't resist it. And that cover is easily one of the most hellaliciously cool pieces of art Wayne Reynolds has ever done. Me, my favourite element of the AP art wise has been the amazing intro pieces by Joachim Barrum. So wonderfully moody, his pieces for The Hall of Harsh Reflections and The Three Faces of Evil in particular really impressed me. Eva Widermann's portraits have also been excellent (I'm still in awe of her mortal Kyuss).

I'd run with this situation similar to how others have indicated. Theldrick asks the new recruits to prove their worth to him and to Hextor by helping deal with his frustration: get the notebook off the Faceless One so he can translate the scroll. While they're doing so, they are also to try and find out just what in the name of the gods Grallak Kur is rambling about in his visions. The whole thing then becomes a precarious balancing act to try and keep their cover. And of course the quandry that comes up if/when they succeed, and Theldrick wishes to induct them into the Inner Mysteries of the Ebon Triad...

I'm a huge fan of using "fight music" for major combat encounters, and here's some of my favourites:

"Noontide", "Existence", "Still in the Dark", "A Bloodstained Lineage", "Awe of She" and "Holy Orders", all from the Guilty Gear X/X2 Soundtrack. All of them are big blood-pumping rock numbers that just feel right for big fight scenes.

"Dancing Mad" from FFVI, "J-E-N-O-V-A" and "One Winged Angel" from FFVII (the Advent Children version for "One Winged Angel" is even better though!) Dancing Mad and One Winged Angel in particular are suitably epic tracks useable for final encounters.

Me, I've already decided the music I'm going to be using for the final battle(s) in "Dawn of a New Age". Starting with Cradle of Filth's "Heaven Torn Asunder" and "Mother of Abominations", then moving onto "Dancing Mad" and "One Winged Angel", with the last two on loop.

I can only really use music in the distant background and sparingly though, since one of my players is deaf. Even with his cochlear implant, he can only handle so much noise before distortion drowns everything out.

So my tips are:

Hummus and Tabboule (the Lebanese salad) are great. And the Hummus can either be eaten with "oven toasted" pita bread chips, or the healthy crackers others have suggested.
Another less known but really good one is something called "Labneh". Another Lebanese concoction it is a sort of cross between yoghurt and cream cheese (and there are Low fat varieties!) which eaten almost the same way as Hummus. It is VERY tasty though (especially with some Zaatar...lebanese mixture of thyme and sesame seed spice...and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil).
Ok now i'm beginning to sound like some crazy RPG Lebanese cook book LOL.
But give those a try and let me know what you think =p.
Bon Appetit.

Ooooh. That Labneh and Zaatar sounds nice, I'm off to dig up a recipie from the great beast that is the Internet.

My mates bring loads of sweets to the game, and corn chips and the like. And coke. By the cube.

Me, I'm the freak. I bring mineral water (or Schweppes' Agrum and Ciata when its on sale), with nuts, banana chips, nuts, dried fruit (especially pawpaw and pineapple!), nuts and carrots.

Oh, and nuts.

Yes, they are the Spawn of Kyuss. Fast healing plus DR does make them significantly tougher than a normal Zombie.

Now if you want to say paladins are immune to Kyuss worms in your campaign, that's cool. But keep in mind that once you start to blur things like this, there will be ramifications. If you make a paladin immune to Kyuss worms, then why aren't they also immune to green slime, brown and yellow mold, chaos beast bites, and slaadi egg implantation?

My thoughts exactly. Paladin's Divine Health doesn't help against the Worms, since its a parasitic, discrete organism that's EATING YOUR BRAIN!

This has been addressed before, but the sorceror levels are non-associated- several creatures in the Monstrous Manual (mummy lord, aboleth, elestial charger) also suffer this issue... quite simply, a mind flayer hurling scorching rays or magic missiles is simply not that impressive and certainly not a CR 11.

WTF? The 9th Level Squid-head Sorc in the MM is listed as a 17, and Zyrxog has two CR 6s with him to boot. To say nothing of the fact that his SR is so high that he's near invulnerable to the party's casters, and knows the PCs are coming.

And to top it all of, Squiddies have a favoured class of Wizard and a bonus to CHA. I fail to see how Sorc is non-associated.

I just have one question about Zyrxog. How the spork is 7th level Illithid Sorceror a CR 11? Isn't it about a 15?

PC Name: Kourgath, Half-Orc Barbarian 2/Fighter 1
Adventure: The 3 Faces of Evil
Location of Death: The Battle Temple of Zugash
Catalyst: Grand Melee, tapped out casters, and Theldrick. Mainly Theldrick.

Kourgath felt like he'd been fighting for a hundred years. The damnable woman's curse of fear had sent him running like a coward, and now he was tired. He'd pushed himself to his limits, but they just kept coming. Veldrin's songs and Emin's prayers were helping, but even little Artophanx looked tired. And stones aren't supposed to get tired. Ralph had come running back to help, splattered with blood, the Kobold having single-handedly cut down the rabble who'd attempted to come up the back passage.

"A little help would be appreciated!" shouted Conchas, beating back another black-blooded warrior with his axe and tower shield. Before Kourgath could do anything, Veldrin had vaulted over a body to help, lashing out with Heartseeker. Kourgath turned to fight the priest who'd come though the door above the stairs, ducking under a wild swing from his enormous iron maul, swinging his greatsword across his belly with a grunt. With a yelp, Ralph lashed out with his light blade, aiming for the femoral artery as Artophanx brought his pedestal down on the priest's back with rumbling shout of glee. Then Artophanx went sailing across the room as a new opponent stepped in, and aging man with slick black armour, and a dull grey maul. "Defilers" he spat in a deep baritone.

Kourgath roared and stepped up to face this new opponent, swinging with all his might. The old man didn't even flinch as the blow glanced harmlessly off his armour with a black flash and a shriek of dark power. Less than a second later, Kourgath felt the impact of his maul in his belly.
"So...fast" Kourgath wheezed.
"The Black King protects me." was the mocking reply, "And he guides me in killing heretics such as you."

Ralph dived behind this opponent, his rapier darting towards his back. With impossible ease, he turned and swatted that daring rogue, shouting "Know your place SLAVE!" As he staggered to his feet, Ralph muttered something softly. Emin stepped up, holding forth his Sun disk and shouting a prayer in Ancient Imperial. There was a flash of power and the old man staggered, and Kourgath seized his chance, Artophanx close behind. The two of them traded blows with the old warrior, but he was so fast, and his armour seemed almost impregnable. For every blow they landed, he landed two more on both of them. Finally, he barked "This is OVER!", and delivered a massive reverse swing to Kourgath's chest, sending the half-orc to the floor. As Kourgath looked up over his shattered chest, he saw Ralph leap behind the mighty opponent, yipping "this here's my place!" and driving his rapier under his shoulder.

Then Kourgath saw no more.

My PCs rested in the horseshoe cave in the Grimlock caves, and took advantage of the fortified nature of the Battle Temple to rest as well. I didn't make it easy for them, they got attacked during their rest in the Grimlock caves by more Grimlocks, but some careful preparation, sabotage and a tireless watchman (Artophanx!) made it survivable.

I have not yet run the mindlfayer encounter (my party is incredibly slow), but I have found that, in general, the AoW path is too hard. I imagine that in an effort to make it interesting and unique, challenges were chosen that are too much for the average party of 4 disparate characters.

...

I suggest that you be ready to drop some stuff in future adventures, both to make them survivable and to keep them from being silly.

Is it tough? Ohhh hell yes. My party's just about to complete 3FoE, and they've just had their first death after way too many near misses to count (the battleground in the LE temple).

And you know what? They're absolutely loving it. At least two of the players, including the casualty, are RELISHING the challenge. The grand melee that they found themselves in in the LE temple is something they're still talking about.

I'd like to know what you found silly about any of the encounters, although I will agree that the AP is beyond the capabilities of a four-man team. I've got six with an NPC, and its still a slog.