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I've been meh with the run on the 2E era APs. Not that they don't have interesting themes. But at the end of the adventure, none of them seem to really impact the larger world. Extinction Curse was close, but you are fighting to preserve the status quo in a BIG WAY. 1E APs just had bigger stakes. Break nations, kill/make new gods, explore new regions, establish new kings/queens, etc. I know there was a bit of a cool down after the major world shake ups post 1E, but it seems the AP team is holding back on making massive metaplot/world shifting changes in the 2E meta setting. I say, it's time to go big or go home! We need to have our round 2 with Tar Baphon and put him in the ground finally. There is a massive unknown waiting for us in Arcadia. If I remember, there are a few major factions in Tian Xia waiting to go to war. And hey, we have 2 Runelords still kicking around...and the Aboleths are just waiting there to get all mucky and godlike with. I AM however looking forward to Strength of Thousands. The school theme is...okay. But actually getting to kick the tires in a non-colony nation in the Mwangi Expanse is something I'm 100% down for.
A number of ongoing issues have cropped up in my subscriptions. Bestiary 2 was Skipped in my Pathfinder 2E core book sub. My current active subs do not show up on my forum acccount. So at this time, I'd rather buy my books individually. So I'm requesting my subscriptions are cancelled. I have emailed about this issue so if it is resolved there I'll delete this message. 
Page 90-91 in Near Space we get introduced to the world of Nemenar. It's a curse blighted world where darkvision/X-sense is mandatory because they block out all but UV light to stave off an ever burning curse. Yet, I can't find this race, or I missed them in one of the Archives? Curseblighted race with a vengful goddess connection? I...I kinda want to play this.
Studying the description of their powers and the tiny blurb we get about the class I got wondering about the style and themeing of the class. Solarians by contrast seem to be about balance of extremes. Stylistically they use a mixture of bright solar tones and darker gravity ones. But always there is a balance. They have a graceful monastic design with robes, loose clothing, and glowing manifestations of their power in iconic shapes. Sword/armor, etc. The Jedi of Star Wars, the Clerics of Equalibrium, the hackers of The Matrix. But when I think of Vanguards...something else comes to mind. They are armored, carry shields. Run down attacks almost gleefully inviting destruction and harm to begin the generation of their strikes. It screams PUNK, brighter neon colors, mismatch designs. Haphazard yet functional. They are very much the drunk masters of the Starfinder setting. I'd see them in stark cut armor with overly bright logos and symbols of disaster and harm. Nuclear Warning logos, Mangled hand warnings on riot shields, road signs showing falling rocks. Their embrace of entropy and the role it plays in the universe screams they go out and "live life to the fullest". A strong joyful nihilism, death may come but what of it? It is the nature of things, go, live, experience. Yes they train in monasteries, but that's just to learn to self control needed to harness their power. But no Vanguard's training is complete until they step out into the universe, bash their heads against it, and come back years later weathered and scared from the joy of the experience. Vanguard masters would be living tapestries of life lived to the fullest. Covered with scars, tattoos, as living textbooks on how to face down entropy itself and harness it for self discovery. tl:dr: Think Tank Girl meets 80's action figures. Gritty and Bright! Thoughts?
One under utilized element of feat trees I always thought was the lack of background and profession options. This is the kinda stuff that fell into Traits and background packages. I always felt they were better serviced by being something you could progress with as feat selections. Rather than half feats and measures it would be nice to have actual profession feats that grant you social ties, bonuses to actions tied to your chosen job, etc. Imagine a nice way to expand your reach as a Noble if you gained feats that gave you specific stunts "Call in X favors a day/week/etc", or +X vs contacts of your skill tree, better rates for rewards (or a better bonus to rolls for such). Etc. I could also see things like "Burgler" package that gave you an excuse to pick up Thief skills just with out the Rogue raw bonus. Just enough to give you the dabbler package. That way I could pick up the package Thieves Guild package with say my Barbarian levels and make a pretty good take on Fafhrd. Or conversely play a Rogue with Apprentice feats to make Gray Mouser. THis could cover the class skill dip packages, jobs, backhistory, etc. Great for 'touched by aberrations' backstory to explain your weird non-natural ability to absorb electricity damage and attack intangible X times a day kinda stuff. Feat packages is just something I've seen hinted at but never really developed very far.
I asked James Jacobs if he ever wanted to do a High Level Play book and he said, yes, but he has yet to sell the pitch to management who finds Player options books more viable. So it got me wondering. How would you make a High Level Play book, viable for GM's and Players alike. Give it enough meat that anyone who wants to play a more powerful game would pick it up. The GM uses would be great. Tips and Tricks for action economy control, ways of handling multiple sustained buffs, etc. Ways to speed up monster fights. For players, that's tricker. Maybe talking about the choice of options to multiclass or not, or to build for archtypes and how to get the most out of later feat trees? Finally ways of managing large sums of gear/money/etc. Can you think of ways to make such a book worth it to Paizo to publish, ie. worth it to player and GM alike to buy?
I've hit a bump in my reading. I don't know who to pick up now? I feel in love with Brandon Sanderson's works. Re-reading my way through Mistborn, but I'll soon finish. I am digesting part 2 of the John Dies at the End series. And now...nothing. I enjoy smart fantasy and sci-fi. I dislike overpowered chosen one characters. Assume I'm a Black Company kinda guy. The descriptions of say The Likes of Locke Lemora set of my Mary Sue alarms so I haven't touched it. That said, I could go for some romantic fantasy that doesn't make me figet at the dumb and I'm not too tight in my ways that romance has to be traditional. Gay, strange, whatever. Just as long as I can believe the relationship. But I turn a wan eye towards the excess Romantic Fantasy novels of the 90's. I detest stuff like torture porn (see Terry Goodkind skree/also The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant make me ill). If the protagonists can't make a meanful dent in the universe with out fate stepping into save their bottoms. Screw em. I'm being picky, but eh. I'd rather enjoy the book than suffer through the stuff that would have me groaning. I also enjoy hard(ish) sci-fi like the Culture series, Transhuman Space, etc. But I also can stand a bit of pulp. Any suggestions for my gronard heart?
Lets get the rumors and confirmed info all together in one place shall we? Just in case someone misses a post on the forums, a event at a con, or a reddit/facebook post. Stone Soup of news. Iron Gods - 2nd AP for 2014. Only confirmed book we can guess at is Guide to Numeria Pathfinder Wiki has a list of book titles: Fires of Creation
I'd LOVE to know where they got these names. Was it from GenCon? James has send the 2nd Book is heavily inspired by Mad Max. (Yay!) So expect the rules of Bartertown. And crazy "gangs". We've been told NOT to expect Kaiju vs Mecha fights. So sorry Pacific Rim fans. Obvious the main inspirations for this is Thundarr meets Barrier Peaks. Anyone got any other confirmed info?
I doubt Paizo would do such a think, but honestly I really, REALLY would love to have the 3.5 era AP's updated to Pathfinder updated rules and info in much the same way that RoTRL was. They seem to contain a lot of the iconic information and development that went into Golarion that we know today. Just grousing, since I know the devs said they were not doing more than RoTRL, but still. Pity. *sigh*
So, I'm sure many of you are going crazy on Terraria 1.2 with the new biomes, new toys, and hardmode boss fights. I'm curious if anyone else here is interested in co-op later. I'm a casual I'll warn you though. What bout Edge of Space? Is anyone in the early version of that game? What is your thoughts on it? I like the various sci-fi tools you can pick up. And the wormhole exploration. I plan on picking it up soon. Finally, who's in the Starbound pre-order? Anyone excited about the latest updates?
So lets get scary. What sorts of monsters would you like to see in the adventure? What sort of space/monster/technological nightmare fights would you like to go up again? Here's a few I daydreamed: Skeletal Hijackers - Metal skeleton creatures that nap living targets as internal hostages. The construct latches around the subject carrying them around and forcing them to move around attacking friends. Their goal is to get the hostage killed while making their allies less likel to fight back. If the hostage survives it begins guarding the spot until the hostage dies of dehydration/fatigue. Corpse Harvesters - Large walking tri-pods with carry cages underneath them filled to the brim with dead bodies. They walk around and attack with long metal coils bashing a subject to death if found alive, or till graveyards looking for bodies to be carried back to their dungeon to be deposited. Each coprse inside can be reanimated int a dozen fast zombies if 'full' and attack if the Harvester is at half health. Laser Elemental - Nothing like fighting a intangible elemental that can burn you and moves via near instant transport from place to place. Hard to spot during the day, but painfully obvious at night when the glowing wormlike being attacks you. Machine Chimera - A polygot of 3 different robotic/construct forms has rebuilt itself into a mish-mashed walking monstrosity of mangled body parts, gears, wheels, and moving parts. This often four legged/treaded THING tends to attack anyone carrying technology in it's serach for endless new parts. Cloud Tool Familar - A floating ball of gray microcopic machines that bonds to a user via magical attunement. It follows them around granting a +2 Knowledge: Engineering insight as well as having an ability to transform into any hand tool (including theives tools) of a masterwork quality the user need. More as I think of them.
This has been kicking around on other boards, but there are hints the forces that are working against the Pharoh might be the Osirian branch of the Esoteric Order! No confirmation, but that would be so awesome. For those that didn't play/read Carrion Crown the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye fought against the forces of the Whispering Way in Ustalav. Their founder was a Ustalavian nobel who travled to Osrion in his youth and studied the magics and traditions there. Their whole methology and ideology is deeply rooted in Osirion thought. Yes, they are basically undead fighting freemasons in the Golarino setting. Wouldn't it be awesome if THEY are the ones who removed the heart and mask of the Pharoh to prevent him from rising again to power? Thoughts on this theory?
Has anyone here run/played in a game that hit the Vault Keeper's deepest layers in Orv? Has anyone learned Orvian as a language? Did you discover/fight Intellect Devowers, Aboleths, and the other nightmares of the Vaults? It seems a rahter unexplored area. (With the exception of the Black Desert getting fleshed out recently.)
We're going to run into it. It may be metalic, organic, or something in between. But fancy hightech space suit style power armor is going to be a possible find in the AP. (Hell I think the AP might have glorious 4 page spreads of wacky gagets.) Now odds are the tech based items will be described in conventional magic item terms. So Power Armor might be +X Armor with Y effect. Like +2 Strength and maybe Elemental Resistance Z. Or, they might actually make them UNreproducable and chargeable and maintainable only by salvaging bits of cast off space ship. Lightgun that can be recharged via Shocking Grasp, etc. But the armor is going to be important. The creatures that made the Silver Mountain may not have been human, but maybe they are humanoid (if the droids and bits of tech they left behind is any clue). I think you might find stripped power armor, or just plating froma ship or robot body converted into conventional armor. Like retro plate with leather tied around something that looks like a black bug shell made of hard angles. Then you'll find the easy to maintain stuff. Low bonus skin suits, strange belts that as long as charged they give you X bonus. Finally you'll find the space ready full body stuff. The...is that Full Plate? Why can the Wizard wear it stuff. Hell, you might find armor that is like AppleSeed's more bulky suits. If we find anything like a minor mech say a Tachicoma...well that would be stretching things. But we're not the devs. What's your take on the Power Armor we'll find. Will it be barbarian redesigned stuff? Reign of Kings style Shardplate? What?
I've been thinking about the world of the Dead. I've had ideas inspired by 80's cyberpunk horror movies where the dead find a way to control and infect the living with necroic magic turning them into a new walking plage of servants. Case in point, how would the Undead Masters of Eox reach Golarion. They're pretty powerful seeing as how they redirected the Star Titant away from their world. I've been debating that they might have an existing portal near the Crown of the World, much like the Thinkers have one in the Jungles to south. I know dropping one of the masters of Eox directly into a game would be chaos, and I'd much rather slowly introduce them to the players. Rather their minions, their plagues, and strange creations start the invasion (incursion). But have you used the masters of Eox? How would you handle them?
I suprise myself more and more every day when I sit down an look over new class material in updated books. I call a Witch a Mez/Controller. A very MMOish term but it's a great short hand for what in combat terms the Witch does. The Witch specializes in sutting down foes and cursing/hexing them to combat ineffectiveness. (Disclaimer: I know a LOT of MMO terms came about from earlier RPG terms slightly changed for the times. Or older wargamming terms updated to video game references.) However I don't think of my character as a 'toon'. Hell I don't even use that term when I play MMO's. But the MMO and Storygaming narrative thoughts on encounter design and building have crept into my own GMing style and thought. Hell even a bit of TVTropes snuck in. I look at foes and think. BBEG, with Skirmishers, one Brick with Mez powers and a few buffers in the wings. 10 years ago I would have looked at my current self and said...what the hell man? That's not even English. But it's there. When I do GM notes, I've discovered that my Pathfinder details are this weird cryto mash of MMO, Tropes, and such on the page. I swear my notes pages are looking like Eldridge diagrams more these days. Do any of you see this trend sneaking into your thinking as a player/gamer? What about 4E terms and planning? Or stuff from games like 13th Age or Dungeon World? It's show up in mine... (Disclaimer 2: In PLAY it's mostly casual or in character, rarely do we drop into very video gaming logic.)
Lets put the call for a Artificer class aside. What Archtypes do you think might be cool for the Iron Gods's AP? These would be the awesome mutant/tech inspired builds that might show up in a People of... or Inner Sea X book. I can think of a few right off the top of my head. Mutant Druid - Mixing the Mutagen powers of a Alchemist with a Druid's shape changing this archtype can turn into monsterous unnatural aberations that do no normally exist in nature. This represents darker understanding of Nature gone wrong, perhaps to redeem it, or to adapt in the face of the unnatural. Differnt from the Blight Druid since he's more focused on internal adaptation. Scavenger Bard - Bard who specializes in UMD/using all sorts of weird weapons and gear. Has bonuses to identifying unusual objects and maybe a kitbash ex skill that allows them to use things in unusual ways. For that player who has to pick one of everything up if it's not nailed down. I see this as a Bard type since they want the lore and mystery of the weird. Purifier Barbarian - Barbarian who seeks to cleanse the lands of the alien taint that is encroaching on his homelands. Has new rage powers dedicated to shrugging off curses/contaimination/illness/mind effecting so he can continue to fight and cleans his home of alien invaders. Experimental Gunsmith - Pioeneers of the gunsmithing trade these wondering researchers hone themselves, their weapon, and their knowledge seeking new ideas to improve the power of their signature weapon. They gain a Bonded Weapon trait much like a Paladin but instead it is their signature gun. Over time they can spend grit for tempoary bonuses on the weapon like a Magus can to add + bonuses. The bizarre creations these gunslingers are the stuff of legends. Adamantium Fist - Monks who dedicate themselves in developing the one true ki stike that can break even the will of a god. They gain bane subtypes vs creatures normally immune to criticals and most types of specialized damage. (bane construct/ooze/etc.) They trade of the more esoteric powers of monks for access to higher level DR bypassing early on. Think Magnus The Robot Fighter in Monk terms. Oracle of Progress - You can not stop the future. The world must evolve or die. The Oracle of Progress is gifted their power by patrons of craft/cutlure/and sometimes war. They gain spells related to enhancement, building, and gain skills in Appraise, UMD, Disable Device, and Knowledge (engineering). Their unique mysteries allow them to shelter, enhance, and drive the machine of development in the rugged world. Think weird trap/gaget based Oracle. (Kinda Rogue meets Oracle.) A new curse Tinker's Damn where they gain social pentalites due to distracted nature/foul mouth but gain bonuses related to completing skill checks without distraction including things like combat or shaken/sickened. Finally gaining the ability to do them in less time than normal. (Scotty's Curse) Illuminated Wizard - Sometimes you CAN know too much. These wizards have cast aside their sanity for the pure unfiltered knowledge of the Dark Tapestry and BEYOND! No longer able to hold an Arcane Bond, and assended beyound such concepts of schools they instead gain the ability to add meta magic effects from a pool of inner enlightenment (think magus like arcane pool) on the fly. The price of this power is a strange detachment to the world around them. Deconstructor Ranger - Nothing is more dangerous to people than their own creations. This Ranger gives up some weapon bonuses to gain the ability to attack constructs with bonues. Interesting enough he gains enough understanding of the machines he can at higher level BUILD his own mechanical Companion. Axiomatic Cleric You have studied the laws of univerals motion. Lost texts and secrets passed down from the plane of Axis. These secrets allow you to Turn/Control Constructs as if they were undead. It also allows you to bypass DR with damage spells buy using divine surges wen casting spells. I'll think of others later. What do you think? Got your own?
Here are two threads of mine that you might find useful. Visualizing Numeria And It's People Numerican Characters, What Archtypes and Themes work? Mind you these threads are old and more geared towards my early Numerian campaign work that bore some weird fruit. (We call it the shorties game...longer story than I'll tell here.) The point is there are lots of great inspirations for Numerian styled characters and they are not all sci-fi movies. If anything you might want to look at the following movies: Lightyears (Gandahar)
Which I brought up in another thread. The idea is more for rough and ready adventures from a fantasy setting stepping into the world is mis-understood technology and mysticised eletronics. However, eventually I'm sure your characters might add in power armor, strange eletronic gear like pads on their arms, road warrior inspired clothing/armor, etc. I wouldn't be suprised that late AP you will be rather weird looking by local Golarion standard, but not so weird that you couldn't say it's just enchanted armor etc and get away with it. After all, to the north you have people who are becoming godlings fighting demons. And demoic grafts..and. Well you get the picture. I'm going to sit down with Ultiamte Campaign over the next few days and list out some good traits that might sync with the ones they offer us when the IGPG comes out. Till then Numeria fans, lets come up with our own player's guide of cool character styles and suggestions to really flavor it up when the AP drops, ne?
This isn't so much a 'Future AP' needs to be about X, bur rather what little sub systems and minor themes might be a good addition to AP's coming down the road. Here's a few examples I thought would be cool: 1. Actually have an AP that features the investment system from Ultimate Campaign. Allow PC's to set aside some of their treasure and have it change some element of the outcome or the AP down the line. Invest X here and get reward A, B, or C down the line. 2. Have an AP that grants the PC's a party (not player) cohort. Maybe feature an alternative party feat/cohort mechanic for an ally the party can enhance and build on together. (Kinda like a pet NPC mechanic.) 3. More fights on moble environments. Ship to Ship battles are fun, but I'd LOVE to see stuff like large army set pieces, or strange environmental shifts mid fight that force the party to change up tactics. 4. A wedding, a community event, some soft of large NPC gathering that's friendly and happy to allow the PC's time to interact and see how they would handle NOT killing monsters for a few hours. 5. An Indiana Jones inspired cart fight/race. (I did some of these and it went over VERY well, just saying.) 6. A chance to mentor early pre-PC characters. Perhaps a Dojo, a fighter's guild, a training hall for theives. Anything where the PC's have a chance to show off their skills and have a chat with the next generation. 7. More side trips through Orv, or other strange planes/planets. Not as the whole game, but a nice stop over mid game to explore a new place. Do you have any little pieces and ideas that would spice up an AP nicely?
So I'm tinkering. I want crazy good low level zone denial with a fighter and Cavalier mix. My questions are 2: 1. What Teamwork feats would you pick for the Cav that would sync up good with a spear archtype fighter? 2. Should I focus on setting up brace with the Fighter using the Cav to push foes with his mount or go for the double charging mix?
So, I'm almost up to Forest of Spirits. Just have to do the Yeti part of Book 3 but a few things are happening. 1. My group is about to go to 6 players. Not my normal comfort zone, but I know I have to ramp up the AP's challenge in places to handle the group. Any suggestions besides MORE ninjas? 2. What should I do with Ameiko? I...the rest of the NPCs are fading to the background and I think it's time I focus on Ameiko and cut my losses with the cast. I can't focus on all of them, the current AP NPCs, AND the PCs. Too much headwork. I'm fine with ONE major NPC, but Ameiko's relationship to the rest of the group is weird. She brushed off the Bard (he came off as a touch creepy to her). She's been doing the leading from the rear for the adventure and frankly that doesn't sound like her. 3. The whole Scion thing needs to be cleared up. I need to add more Scions to the mix but I need a clear way to link them to the story. I think it's time the PC's step up as the heirs to free the kingdom of Minkai.
Friend and I got talkinga about running mega dungeons. The scope of one as a campaign, how you run the whole dungeons. How plots can come out of them. One thought I had was the dungeons could have a series of goals for each floor. Like finding a safe house, taking out a monster camp, find how to get into a temple. Etc. Each has specific rewards and counts towards control for that area of the dungeon. As the floors get deeper/bigger there are more and more optional paths and options. Depending on if the PC's want to clear an area, or just create a safe passage to more rewarding areas lower. And the other thought that came up is you can have a basecamp system much like city management. Bring treasure up, watch as the encampment around the entrance grows. Same goes for your safehouses deeper inside, possible merchants and hirelings to expand your operation. Do you pick up a sponsor as you gain in success. Like the Pathfinders or Aspis? You could build a whole Ultimate Campaign style safehouse/dungeon map path system out of it. Area of control and reward. Thoughts?
I dunno about anyone else, but I would love text free cover post sized art prints of the various books. Stuff like Ultimate Equipment and Mythic Adventures would feature highly over my gaming table. The same goes with a full cast picture of ALL the Iconics. Etc. Maybe with a litle Paizo logo in the bottom, but basically I want big posters with out advert info on them.
Yes. I think James and the Paizo co have hit the nail on the head. Rather than the weird Psi-punk funkiness of 3.X era books dealing with mentalism and those associated powers as variant magical systems taught by Vadra mystics sounds awesome. We are getting the Advanced Class Guide which focuses more on hybrid and unique variants, but I could see a 2015 book that covers Alternative/lost traditions with a matching AP set in Casmaron/Vudra reason where the PC's run across Yogi style masters of mind and body blending psi and monk talents and generally expanding the players mind. Frankly, it reminds me more of the 2E art style of psionics as more a yogi/monk meditative priest and mastery over the weird crystal stuff of 3.X (not that style is bad, just I dunno. Off putting to a lot of people in a Fantasy setting.) So, whatever form Psyhic Magic takes, it sounds like the dev team finally figured out how they are going to tackle the issue. I wish them luck in pulling it off!
Oh gods beyond my group. They have developed a new standard operating procedure. Crisis Entry for all dungeons. They (with the help of Spivy) found the backdoor for Brinewall, and when they got to Ravenscrage went in via the roof (Flying Ediolon with Ant Haul + Cart = AIRBORNE ATTACK). What this has done has more or less caused them to handle all the dungeons BACKWARDS. That's righty, they've faced the Decapus first then went after the rest of the folks in Brinewall...now they're basically bashing their way to the dungeons below Ravenscrag and blocking any defenders from exiting upwards. Oh, when they when to the Viking Feasthall earlier in the adventure...they went in with Pyrotechnics first off and then started to hammer through blind warriors. The Rimerunner's guide hall..they 'made' a hole in the roof and started blasting downward again. They are currently looking into passwall items so they 'breach' a dungeon or location and begin attacking outside of standard approaches. They are having the time of their lives.
Run into a weird little bug with Bane. Can you bane specifically to a subtype? There seems to be weapons that do this. Specifically the subtype Shapeshifting. If I'm right it would hit Oni, Kitsune, Druids, etc. But if you look under BANE it only targets primary monster type then subtype. ie. I could do Outsider (Shapeshifter) or Humanoid (Shapeshifter). So...how does Bane and Subtypes work?
My group has a nice solution to the magic item issue with Jade Regent. The party has Skotty Narr (aka. Gnomish Tony Stark) a Gnomish Summoner who is also a full time crafter. Magic items, weapons, you name it. He's the source of all sorts of toys. Well, they're are finihsing up Ravenscrag when they find the cloak room full of animal hides and supplies. And do you know what the first thing that the group considers doing? (when they finish with the dungeon) Folks I present: Skotty Narr's Awesomesacks - Better than a Handy Haversack. They come in the stylish look of BEAR, FOX, and WOLF. With optional DEER! Get yours today. Love my group.
Wow, I've never really used Poison as much as I am in this game. The ninjas are not getting to use their sneak attacks so much be cause the PC's are very good at corner case fights and early attack detection. Having a Barbarian and Monk acting as your frontliners really helps. But in close quarters I've dropped the party's Barbarian stone cold DEAD when 3 different poisons in his body killed him post rage. (Forcing them to use the Seal to rez him.) And the group's Bard is currently limping through Ravenscrag with Con 5 from just the 2nd Ninja attack. And they still have the majority of the place to get though. Woof. Anyone else notice running the PC's against this many poison using ninjas is like a long slow meatgrinder?
Well, I'm planning on taking a Ustalav group into Verno and then have a build up to the next appearance of Bastardhall. This is my placeholder game until I'm ready to run my Numerian one. Point is, the PC's are lvl 1 learning about the shadow Bastardhall casts over the people of Ustalav and they have to deal with the ever twisting depths of the castle. Spoiler:
In my verison the castle is anchored in the Plane of Shadow and goes there during it's dormant periods. I've got a group of adventures that are going to get my worst monster story I can cook up. The catch is I'm looking for ways to flavor up the prelude before the PC's hit the castle proper. I want the Black Coach sightings to scare them and then when the castle desides to appear on the Mountain be something they dread and look forward too. Any advice on good rumors to get the PC's scared but intereted before I drop the castle on them?
So my group is now level 6/ mythic 2 (using the varient Amazing Init rules where it only adds + Mythic Tier to Init) and I desided to throw them at two mythic tier champion baddies just to see what happens. This fight: Mythic Champion Hellknight - Chain Weilder with Admantium Combat Chain in magical Full Plate Mythic Tier Clockwork Flying Unicorn - Yes...a "robot" Unicorn that shoots lightning and flies by hovering. Like most Mythic fights it lasted about 5 rounds or so, but we had a late player and a Trickster entered into the mix. So my party is now (1 Champion, 2 Archmages (One with Martial Dual Path), 1 Heirophante, 1 Trickster. The Trickster is devistating. In this case he was a Tengu Ninja using the alternative racial traits that Tengu get when using their claws. When he stepped in he used the 2 Mythic Points extra full round action to do 2 full attacks from Invisiable in the fight and ended the Hellnight in 1 turn. O.o Okay...gonna have to adjust for that. Final Results: Amazing Init's ability to buy a full round of turns for 2 MP is not over powered. Dangerous, especially when full attacks come into play. It's more an issue of how long it can take some players to resolve their actions. 8 attacks in one stacked turn took a while, but the player was fast and it didn't bother anyone. But stack in Rogue Sneak attack bonuses and effect can add up. Tricksters need to have the ability to stack Rogue/Ninja Sneak Attack 'rider' efects. It would be a perfect Path ability for them. So in one attack you can put Bleed, Shaken, etc. As it stands (post errata) you can only have one of these effects on a Sneak attack, but it would be PERFECT for tricksters to pay a path ability slot to add a +1 effect on their sneak attacks. Mythic Points for saves continue to dominate. Especially when 75% of the party has Evasion of some kind. (Mine does) The ability of a Archmage to turn his Familiar into another caster origin point for his spells is amazing and scary. Espcically when our Muscle Mage DUAL FIREBALLED the Robot Unicorn to stagger it in the fight. I didn't find it overpowering, but it totally changed how the caster thought about battle. it can be cheesed by allowing the caster to turn invisable and use his familar (no matter how small) as his remote spell turret, in effect. Something about this has to be addressed. .ie If the Familar uses a smell to attack have it disable invisability for the caster since the spell technically originates from him? Heirophant's "Sustained By Faith" seems okay as long as that refresh trick is only once a day. Otherwise, the Heirophant/Druid/Rogue in the party became the night watchgirl. Tricksters are SCARY. The right Assassin/Trickster build will mop up a battlefield if you are not careful or give the PC's ways to deal with invisable hard to detect Tricksters. My earlire Mythic Sense idea would really help here. Not to disable their bonus from being hard to find, but giving a sporting chance to mythic characters against mythic tier sneakers. Mythic DR came up in this fight. The Unicorn had DR 10 Adamantium/Epic. It REALLY got the party pissed that it took a lot of magic to drop the thing. The Trickster needs something for sneak attacks to bypass Epic/Mythic DR. Unless you force them to dualpath into Champion. I dunno. I'll re-read the rules and look at my options. That's about it as far as I can tell from this session. I'll continue the Level 6/Tier 2 playtest next week with more non-combat actions and let you know what happens.
This may sound silly, but I think there is easly 64 pages of material out there for a book detailing the constructs of the Golarion world. Including the Clockworks of Xin. Androids wondering the Numerian wasteland. The Golems of Riddleport and Geb. Etc, etc. There seems to be a large number of various different groups making and supporing them. I'd LOVE to see expanded rules and archtypes for Wizards/Sorcerers/Summoners that would allow for crafting specialites. And...James it would be a nice way to sneak in the Alchemist "Homunculi" rules. Just saying.
Inner Sea Beastiary gives us the Android race. Made in Forges they wonder away from their birthplace and forget exactly 'where' they were made. Only that they came alive fully adult and aware. They look mostly human except for the circut patterns on their body that light up when they use their Nanite Surge, and the all too pale blood and eyes. So...how do you think they are taken as they spread out over the Inner Sea? Numeria obviously has experience with this rare breed. The Barbarian Tribes might have lore about them and how they act and won't freek when they see one approach. But what happens when one shows up in Cheliax? Or the Pathfinder Society runs across one in Katapesh? How do you as Players and DMs plan to deal with them if they come up in your games?
Call it something I just don't get. Sci-Fi elements have snuck into D&D since day one. They're there in countless other examples of Fantasy where 'ancients' or outsiders turn out to be what we would consider high-tech. Hell, 90% of Anime Fantasy cultures are actually hidden ultratech ones. That said, why do some players and gamers get into the most painful of snits when they see androids and relics of a by-gone age show up in their games. Espcially if it's a one-off gimmick or oddball event? Or better yet, it's handled with the same attention to authentic fantasy reactions to tech. "It's Magic!" etc. I can 'kinda' get the purest standpoint if you are trying for a stylistic theme in your game. But having the options out there for those that like to take the crazier tech side of the Fantasy Pulp coin isn't a mortal sin against your game. Or setting even. It's your game. If your DM is using it and you don't like it, find another game. (Or politely ask for it to be removed.) It's all about setting expectations right? I guess I don't get why there seems to be some very vocal bias against it at all in any fantasy settings. That's my beef. Thoughts?
Here is something I'm curious about. What shape is the drug trade in Golarion? I know it's a fiddly detail, but do they ever really cover any exotic or rare drugs that might be popular in region xyz? The reason why I ask is my Numeria game will feature a great deal of the criminal underworld and their trades.
If your bad guy just not up to snuff? Did the last 20 skeleton minions make your party yawn? Is conventional BDSM of Nidal feel like someone is going at you with a feather duster? It's time to spice of your evil lifestyling. I an endless embodiment of Evil feel qualified to make suggestions. If you use them or not is up to you. Why not take a shot and let me see if I can aid your little ventures into the dark craft. Here's a teaser to wet the palet: You know those boring skeletons? Why don't you mix things up a little with a nice little alchemical bomb implanted in those empty heads of theirs? Imagine if you are an up and coming Lich and you hate pesky adventures picking over your experiment tombs. Throw in some reinforced rooms full of Bomb Skeletons. Maybe a nice 2d6 explosion on death (unless say the PC's take a -2 to avoid hitting the skull, or letting it drop upon skeleton death) to keep them on their toes?
http://imageshack.us/a/img850/1757/121dn.jpg Welcome to the insanity of my first Mythic Boss fight. In this case the group has made their way to a hidden clockwork rail system underneath the massive Pyramid Clockwork Undead Factory. (Long story) And they thought they were for the most part home free. Until the tunnel fills with light and theya re being chased by a MECHA SPHINX! http://imageshack.us/a/img59/3756/20121130203556948.jpg It's basically a massive 3 rail wide machine with clockwork zombies on board piloting it. And the PC's are in a bad position. They are all piled on one mine cart running their springs down trying to get away... http://imageshack.us/a/img28/4839/20121130203606518.jpg What followed was a crazy game of the "Priest" of Ramzir trying to keep their cart moving fast enough to avoid being run over...the whole while the Sphinx is launching small carts full of zombies that attack them when they get close. Not that the PC's were making it easy on them. Mythic highlights early on - Muscle Wizard removing a use of Summon Monster 2 to drop an Air Elemental to pick up and throw zombies around. The 2-handed Fighter using Mythic Arcane Strike to smash the control panel of one of the enemy carts causing it to short and fly out of control down the rail line. The PC's used electricity to destroy 2 of the enemy carts early on. And they dumped a box of alchemical reagents causing a huge crystal mass to start growing on the front of the Sphinx. It was getting pretty insane... Then the Sphnix dropped a new FLYING clockwork. One problem, I drew it badly and it...well, look for yourself. http://imageshack.us/a/img856/8189/1211pa.jpg Ya. It was to have ducted fans and a 3 man crew compartment. But it was dubbed the "Helicocktur" the rest of the night. Loads of jokes about it. It started flying around unloading steam power chain guns on the group. Evasion and loads of mythic points being dumped for saves was key. The fight go interesting with the Lancer did an AoO on the giant drill and Sundered it! Then the group finally started making their way onto the new carts being deployed by the Sphix and more summons were being dropped out. The final scene had a PC trying to make a jump and falling to his death. Even though he had "To The Death" after being pelted with gun fire and getting mashed in the undercarriage I did -95 HPs to the Champion. Just over 1 point to killing him. Highlights: Loads of MP used to recover spells. (Chill touch and Summons being key)
And so ended the night, the group down 1 player, and the Sphinx's driver bailing out when the crystal and exploding bits of the Sphinx from all the damaged carts they threw at it did it in. Tada!
If your opinion, where is the highest chance of planewalking adventures to be based out of in Golarion? Nex? The schools in Absalom? What economies could support a planer expedition and where would people not freak out when the PC's came back from the depths fo the First World, or one of the 12 active 'planes'? Just curious. Also, planer adventure Players Guide would be great.
Ran into an interesting issue with Dual Pathing in character gen. There is almost no reason if you are a caster to pick up a non-caster Mythic path and Dual Path into Archmage and Heirophant because you loose your Mythic spell slots. There is precious little unique to the non-caster Mythic paths for folks to utilize Dual Path at all. What has been suggested is giving either a partial Mythic spell slot bonus for picking up Dual Path, or giving the Champion/Trickster/etc something unique to them that is lost if you Dual Path into them. Thoughts?
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