Under the glittering, idealistic facade of the "enlightened" country, I'd say that there's a dangerous potential for imperialism, hubris, and nationalistic fervor, and a desire to forcibly spread their freedom to other nations. This is evident in their violent response to Katapeshi slavers and their poor ability to negotiate on an international le-
Oh. Did you mean, like, physically below?
Well, the Candlestone Caverns are below Andoran, accessed via the Aspodell mountains. They hold a rift (the Endless Gulf) that reaches all the way through the crust of the planet, down to the Midnight Mountains vault. It connects all three Darklands layers, meaning that Sekamina, the home of the drow, is accessible from the rift.
And again I ask how is it simpler, a more streamlined system? How are its rules less complex or annoying?
Fine, here you go. Here's a list of some changes that make gameplay simpler, more intuitive and less bloated or confusing.
1. Combat maneuvers don't require feats.
2. Moving and then making effective attacks is no longer super difficult due to the 3 action system, which streamlines combat overall. You no longer have to have 13 int and two feats to try and trip someone.
3. Several skills have been consolidated.
4. Nearly everything is a feat now- you no longer have a ton of static class features, and instead choose feats for them.
5. Spell slots are set, not increased by casting stat.
6. You have a single AC score, not three.
7. Magic items and their slots are simplified, as are the bonuses they grant.
8. There are no longer ten thousand types of bonuses (profane, sacred, circumstance, enhancement, deflection...)
9. There are only four spell lists.
These things are not "better" or "worse", they serve to make the game more streamlined and balanced- you are less likely to see Pun-Pun, and less likely to feel useless if you pick what was once a suboptimal class. The system is more accessible to new players, though it of course contains its own complexities. In 1e, you do have options- a great breadth of options.
If you could let go of the rabid 2e hate that I see so often- that I once held myself- you would know these things, and might be able to appreciate some parts of system, even if you don't favor it over 1e.
I myself enjoy 1e far more than 2e, but I don't hate 2e, and I don't ignore its benefits. Just because people can struggle to learn a system does not mean that it was not designed to be more accessible than the one that predated it. Most people will pick up 5e more easily than 3.5, even if 5e is difficult for some.
A more streamlined system, less complex or annoying rules, and a much larger appeal to beginners, since it's so much easier to learn. See the success of D&D 5e, which is orders of magnitude less complex than 3.5 but flows much more smoothly and is far easier for beginners to get into.
From what I can tell, that's the direction Paizo wanted to take 2e. It remains more complex than 5e, but many of the changes have come in the form of making the classes more balanced, lowering the power divide between martials and casters, and making gameplay and character building overall more intuitive. That may not be "perfect" in the eyes of people (like me) who actually enjoy the insane complexity and ridiculous power that you can achieve in 3.5 or Pathfinder 1e, but to others, it may be a vastly more enjoyable system.
Also see the ability of fighters and the like to do much more than charge and full attack- there are options in 2e that did not exist, or were not easily accessible, in 1e. A game can contain more, or simply improved, options without being complex.
I don't think that "technically perfect" or "better rules" applies at all to this comparison. There is no strictly objective way to make a game like Pathfinder better, hence all the rabid arguments over the two editions that spring up so frequently.
Ok I understand that point the reason I posted is because the part of succubus and incubus procreation it's something that Pathfinder don't explain completely only procreation it's with mortals, and only the demon Lord can have procreation between demons. So I use the material from forgotten to show that it can be possible I don't mean that is a fact in all Sistem but to show that if demon lord can have more demons by procreating between them why not the succubus and incubus.
Holes in one setting’s lore cannot be canonically filled with another setting’s lore, because the two settings are not compatible. So... no, you can’t fill in the holes just because there are no explanations given for certain things.
You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how lore, setting, and story is different from a game’s system in terms of compatibility.
That text is talking about converting stat blocks and the like from 3.5 to Pathfinder or vice versa, not melding the settings together. It's literally like... one paragraph that talks about how 3.5 monsters are weaker. The rules are compatible- the settings are not. Every Pathfinder AP takes place in exactly the same universe as PFS scenarios.
Pathfinder canon remains what it is, regardless of whatever conversions you make, regardless of whatever homebrew setting you use. You cannot change what is objectively true for the Pathfinder setting, and you cannot put forth your changes as fact when they're just homebrew.
No, they aren't. Pathfinder's setting and the Forgotten Realms setting are totally different and do not exist in the same universe. All the answers can, and do, come from one setting when canon is the topic. Pathfinder canon has nothing to do with Forgotten Realms canon, and in many cases contradicts it. Different games, made by different companies, with different settings and different lore. The only similarity is the d20 system used in both games.
You're of course allowed to use a homebrew setting where the old information is valid, but what I'm talking about (and what OP is asking for) is what's true in Pathfinder.
Forgotten Realms is an entirely different setting. The lore for fiends in that setting does not apply.
Alu-demons in Pathfinder are children of a succubus who is impregnated while in her true form. Cambions are the offspring of a female human and an incubus, but are only born if the woman spends her entire pregnancy in the Abyss. This lore is from Demons Revisited and The Midnight Isles.
If these conditions aren't met, the offspring will always be a half-fiend. I don't know what you mean by "demonic" vs "fiendish" succubi and incubi, since demonic is the only kind. Fiendish creatures are something else entirely.
See, thats why I'd bump them up. Giving a WHM an extra 52 HP and +13 to its attack rolls, CMD, and CMD (along with a 4th attack roll) makes them proper scary. Obviously its not a CR19 fight anymore, but thats okay. Fey get the short end of the stick in terms of CR quite often, so I'm all for making them scary.
I feel like that would rather miss the point of fey as a whole. They're already scary, not because they're big nasty brutes who can kill you with a sword, but because of the abilities they have that aren't physical. The wild hunt monarch casts as a 17th level druid, can both daze and paralyze you with his gaze attack, and can summon a CR 18 encounter as a full-round action (bringing the total CR of the encounter to 20!)
The banelight, who can do 10d8 damage at range or in melee, with touch attacks, with no save to reduce. The bogeyman, who has a whole slew of fear-based abilities that make his sneak attack even more potent. The ankou, that can summon four copies of itself, each of which can sneak attack, flank, and cast deeper darkness. The nymph, who can blind and stun foes and casts as a 7th level druid. Nearly all fey have some kind of way to compensate for their relatively weak physical abilities.
The fey type is one of, if not the weakest types. Low to-hit, low hp, bad fortitude save. They tend to have much higher hit dice in order to function as well as other creatures of their CR- see the wild hunt monarch, given a whopping 26 hit dice and a +5 weapon just so that he can do well in melee. Often they depend on their magical or supernatural abilities, which I think makes them balanced enough overall.
They don't use weapons or armor, because they don't need to- they are intensely magical in most cases, or at least have unique defenses and offenses.
Y'all are forgetting what makes a level 15 caster's fireball actually more powerful: They're going to have a higher casting stat. Pathfinder already included a scaling system for spells. The casting stat is the real indicator of your magical power.
Seeing alignment as a result of your actions rather than the other way around always makes things easier for me. Just have a character concept for how you want your PC to act, and then let that determine what your alignment is. It shouldn't be a set of guidelines, it should be a consequence of your actions.
Also, healing spells should be necromancy. Necromancy has somewhat turned into "the school of nasty bad evil things", when it should just have to do with forces that manipulate life energy.
Per their own histories, they were sapient before any kind of outsider took an interest in the Prime Material plane. What various outsiders were doing on other planes at the time is hard to say.
Though, to paraphrase Mr. Jacobs- once you go that far back in time things get pretty murky. Pharasma likely predates them, since she was the lone survivor from a previous reality.
The only things older than Pharasma are referred to as "Those Who Remain", likely meaning the Outer Gods, Great Old Ones, and all that eldritch business. If you include aboleths in that group- which they have a fair amount of similarity to, despite being lawful- it's possible that their species predates even her, if they're the same type of eldritch being as the Outer Gods.
Swarms are the worst and they should never, ever be used unless your PCs have some method of dealing damage to them. There's nothing more annoying than getting your martials shut down because they can't deal damage, and your casters shut down because they don't have any AoE spells prepared/known.
As a boss encounter, I can see an intelligent swarm of some kind being fun and suitably difficult. But most swarms are just mindless creatures with no connection to the plot that just happened to be where the PCs are, and they still pose one of the largest threats to parties at low levels. They're not really a challenge in the traditional sense of the word- they're either impossible to deal with or far too easy to deal with.
When was it decided that the orc pantheon lives in the Maelstrom, instead of the Abyss or somewhere else?
Probably when I was working on Planar Adventures, which was my first chance to actually talk about where the gods live—a topic that, for whatever reason, other designers/developers/writers kept glossing over. I wanted the orc deities to live in the Maelstrom in their own domain because that helps to support the fact that orcs aren't intrinsically chaotic evil, even if their deities mostly are, and because there's not much that really feels "demonic" to me about orcs, and because I didn't want the orc gods to be demons or demon-adjacent, and because we'd already talked a LOT about the layers of the Abyss and never mentioned anything about the orc deities.
Yes. Yes. YES.
Chaotic Neutral orcs FTW!!
I always saw the "mostly evil" races as evil not intrinsically, but because they're influenced by their gods and their culture has become entrenched. Hobgoblins are evil because they need to conquer to support their consumption of resources, orcs are destructive because they aren't intelligent enough to be very philosophical (and also because their gods love slaughter). Drow are evil because their culture has a victim complex concerning the surface elves, and because they found patronage in demon lords. Goblins are evil because literally everyone hates them for being scavenging little buggers.
I don't have a problem with intrinsically evil bad guys, but I feel like this sort of view is much more fun.
43. The druids use produce flame/fire seeds/wall of fire/flame strike to literally just burn everything to the ground overnight. Medieval structures are not known for being very fireproof.
Since the PCs are in Hell, why not have the herald of Zursvaater himself aid them? Maybe the importance of the fortress stirred the god to send his servant to protect the Anvil, or maybe the queen called it herself via greater planar binding (probably a scroll of such).
I've statted up such a being below, feel free to tweak it as needed.
Herald of Zurzvaater:
This massive, bat-winged figure appears to be an onyx-skinned giant with flames wreathing its upper torso. It grips a massive greatsword and wears a fearsome fanged helm that sports a pair of cruel horns. His blazingly intense stare surveys all around him. Oskopnir, Keeper of the Anvil - CR 15
LE gargantuan outsider (fire, evil, lawful, herald)
Init +10
Senses true seeing, perception +25, blindsight 60 ft. (heat sense), discern lies, detect chaos, detect good, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Aura hellfire (30 ft.), will of Zurzvaater (60 ft.)
DEFENSE
AC 32 (+12 natural, +6 dex, +8 profane, -4 size), touch 20, flat-footed 26
hp 202
Fort +18, Ref +19, Will +23
Defensive Abilities fire healing, hellfire armor, will of Zurzvaater Immune fire, sleep, paralysis, stunning, poison, disease, petrification, energy drain Resist electricity 30, acid 30 DR 5/adamantine SR 26 Weakness cold (see hellfire armor)
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft., fly 100 ft. (poor), swim 30 ft. (magma only)
Space/Reach 20 ft./20 ft.
Melee +3 adamantine greatsword +30/+25/+20 (3d8+27 plus 5d6 hellfire, 17-20) and gore +21 (2d6+7 plus 5d6 hellfire) or 2 slams +26 (1d10+15 plus 5d6 hellfire and grab) and gore +26 (2d6+15 plus 5d6 hellfire)
Ranged rock +25/+20/+15 (2d10+22 plus 5d6 hellfire)
Special Attacks rock throwing (120 ft.), powerful charge (gore, 4d6+15), hellfire
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th, concentration +23)
Constant: true seeing, detect chaos, detect good, discern lies
At-will: fireball (DC 22), wall of fire, wall of iron, heat metal (DC 21), shatter (DC 21), greater dispel magic
3/day: quickened fireball (DC 22), incendiary cloud (DC 27), break enchantment, resounding blow, fabricate
1/day: dominate monster (DC 27), delayed blast fireball (DC 26)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Fire Healing (Ex)
Oskopnir is healed by fire and hellfire. Whenever he would take such damage, he instead heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage it would deal. Any excess healing gained by this ability is wasted, so that Oskopnir can’t just sit in a pool of lava before the PCs arrive and rack up a bajillion temporary hp.
Will of Zursvaater (Su)
Oskopnir projects an aura of divinely empowered might and alacrity. Any creature within 60 feet with the giant or fire subtypes gain a +6 profane bonus to reflex and will saves (himself included). Creatures within this radius with the humanoid type and the giant subtype cannot be affected by mind-affecting effects that target only humanoids.
Hellfire Armor (Su)
Oskopnir is protected by a layer of raging hellfire. This armor provides no AC bonus, rather, it protects him from cold, empowers his attacks, and sears his foes. All attacks made by Oskopnir, whether natural or with weapons, deal an extra 5d6 hellfire damage. Creatures striking Oskopnir with a non-reach melee weapon also take 5d6 hellfire damage. Whenever Oskopnir is affected by an effect dealing cold damage, the armor absorbs it harmlessly. If the attack deals more than 40 points of cold damage, the armor still absorbs it but dissipates for 1d6 rounds. During these rounds, his attacks don’t deal the extra hellfire damage, and he loses his hellfire aura. While the armor is active, Oskopnir retains the fire subtype but loses his vulnerability to cold.
Hellfire Aura (Su)
Oskopnir emits an aura of hellfire. Creatures beginning their turns within 30 feet of him take 3d6 points of hellfire damage. All creatures that are vulnerable to cold within this aura gain cold resistance 20. Oskopnir does not heal from his own aura.
Lava Lord (Ex)
Oskopnir can walk on the surface of lava, can swim through it with a speed of 30 feet, and can breathe beneath its surface.
Divine Rock Throwing (Su)
Oskopnir’s rocks are created as he throws them. This allows him to make iterative attacks with thrown rocks. When he makes an Awesome Throw combat maneuver with a thrown rock, the target must make a DC 25 fortitude save or be staggered for 1d4 rounds. Rocks thrown by Oskopnir gain a +3 enhancement bonus to attack and damage.
Greatsword Mastery (Ex)
Oskopnir has mastered his god's favored weapon. He gains Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialization with the greatsword a bonus feats. While wielding a greatsword, his weapon cannot be sundered or disarmed.
He could be encountered just before the king and queen, maybe accompanied by some giants to make use of his aura (I put it there specifically to boost their sucky saves).
Gingerbread witch. Turn people into gingerbread and eat them.
Also you get a sweet (I'm hilarious) construct familiar that comes with a bunch of immunities cause, well, it's a construct. At higher levels you can summon shadow monsters made of cake. At even higher levels, you can UNHINGE YOUR JAW AND SWALLOW THINGS WHOLE.
High level wizards can cast cleric spells indirectly through solar gating. They cast as 20th level clerics.
Wizard always wins.
As for infinite wishes, that "wish #2" doesn't really fall under the wish guidelines. That means it's subject to DM fiat, and in this situation, DM fiat means a big red "NOPE".
They're pretty low quality since my laptop can't handle hi-res images. It's kind of a nightmare putting them all in order and making the doc function, but that's what I'm stuck with.
I killed my group three times while running Rise (once while they were purposefully optimizing), then we decided to quit. That AP is notoriously difficult.
If you want a shorter play, check out my module. It's one book long, and goes from levels 4-7.
I'm currently working on maxing out my ranks in Shameless Self-Promotion.
Biological Singularity School necromancy, Level sorcerer/wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range unlimited
Target 1 living creature
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates, Spell Resistance no
This spell disintegrates any body part of the target creature that isn't currently attached to its body. The body parts immediately turn to dust and cannot be restored short of a miracle or wish spell. Unattended parts receive no save, while parts in the possession of another creature use that creature's will save bonus to negate the effect. This spell also destroys clones and simulacra of the creature- clones use their creator's will save bonus, and simulacra use their own save bonus. In order to destroy a clone or simulacra, either the original creature or the clone/simulacrum can be targeted with this spell. Note that if a living creature dies and its soul transfers to its clone, the clone is no longer subject to this spell.
Are we now arguing that torture is not evil, or that torture can sometimes be the lesser evil? Because, yeah. Torture can always be the lesser of two evils. If you need to torture someone to stop Rovagug from escaping, I'd consider it the lesser of the two.
The only problem that I can think of is that in a game like Pathfinder, there are pretty much always better alternatives to torture. In a hypothetical scenario where there are absolutely no alternatives, I'd say that torture can be considered the lesser evil.
Once it's dead, Teleport Object it into the sun before it can regenerate. Now all you've gotta do is raise your caster level high enough to encompass the entire body...
Meh. When I think of torture, I don't think of blackmail and I doubt that anyone else, you included, does either. I think of needle under the nails, mind manipulation, thumbscrews, iron maidens... the good (bad?) stuff. Blackmail isn't torture.
NPC wealth for all of these guys. The inquisitor and medium are one-shots, while the cleric nopes out with meld into stone if he's injured too much or if his buddies are killed.
How's this look? Note that I don't always include every single feature in the stat blocks, either because I've forgotten about it or because it's not relevant for combat.
Shaggat- CR 4
Male gnoll medium (voice of the void) 4
CE medium humanoid (gnoll)
Init +1
Senses darkvision 60 ft., perception +9
DEFENSE AC 18 (+6 armor, +1 dex, +1 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
hp 55
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +4
OFFENSE Speed 50 ft.
Melee +1 nodachi +10 (1d10+18)
Ranged composite longbow +10 (1d8+9)
Special Attacks spirit surge +1d6, surge of the void, void channeller
Medium Spells Known (CL 4th, concentraiton +5, DC 11+spell level)
1st (1/day): expeditious retreat, decompose corpse
0 (at-will): mage hand, read magic, detect magic, dancing lights
STATISTICS Str 19 (+4), Dex 12 (+1), Con 15 (+2), Int 8 (-1), Wis 11 (+0), Cha 13 (+1)
Base Atk +4, CMB +8, CMD 19
Feats Power Attack, Toughness, Spirit Focus (champion)
Skills perception +9, intimidate +10, use magic device +10, perform (oratory) +10
Languages Gnoll
Gear breastplate, +1 nodachi, potion of cure moderate wounds, composite longbow (+4 str), 20 arrows
TACTICS
Before Combat
Shaggat shares his seance bonus with his companions each day. He channels the champion spirit of a bloodthirsty dweller in darkness known as Ximentetocl, and accepts its taboo- he cannot refuse a personal challenge. Before enemies enter the ritual chamber, he casts expeditious retreat.
During Combat
Shaggat is a fierce combatant, always using Power Attack and charging into combat with great energy. He lacks tactical acumen, but knows to flank with Utobi and stay out of Ya’neross’ line of fire. He targets strong enemies first. If he drops an enemy, he spends a round gloating and roaring at their allies to flee and spread the fear of the Dark Tapestry. He uses his free uses of spirit surge to modify missed attacks, but is loath to give his spirit influence over him.
Morale
Shaggat fights to the death.
Most importantly, is Sarenrae still on fire the whole time?
James Jacobs, get on this ASAP. I need this for research purposes. Module, AP, animation, lewdly-narrated short story... I don't care, just get it done!
The Maidens Three will be done soon. Sarsa, Maelee, and Rien may be chaotic evil undead now, but their sisterly bond is still strong. These tragic villains are the "final boss" of the Grasswall section of the module, encountered in the Tomb of the Crippling Gaze.
Maybe the PCs will be able to put them to rest for good...
