The Mind's page

Name of PC: Kiriik
Race/Class/Level: Tengu Lv 9 Slayer
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Skull Ripper

Story: Upon entering the room with the Skull Ripper, Kiriik got set upon it real quick. Failing his Will Save against the Skull Ripper's visage, he attempted to flee. Skull Ripper got its AoO and was able to grab Kiriik. Despite the rest of party doing their best to get Kiriik free from the Skull Ripper's claws, it grabbed him one more time and squeezed the life out of Kiriik before gruesomely ripping his head from his dead body.

Name: Malkath
Class: Human Inquisitor of Torag 6
Adventure: Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Loaction: Lizardfolk Lair
Catalyst: Accidental "Friendly Fire"

After striking a deal with Hishka to get rid of Shukak, Kotabas, and a Young Black Dragon(child of Ilthane, added after reading about changes other people made to the adventure) that was guarding the Egg Chamber, the party went in through the underwater passage right into the Egg Chamber. There, they fought the Young Black Dragon and defeated it.

Unaware that a couple Kobolds that were in the chamber snuck out to warn Shukak, the party looted the room. When they finally made their way into the lair proper, Shukak was waiting for them and ready to execute the prisoners from the keep. Malkath snuck forward to get a good vantage point while the rest prepared themselves with buffs.

Malkath initiated the fight by shooting arrows at Shukak to stop him from executing the prisoners and Shukak followed by charging towards Malkath dealing a hefty blow, while the Kobolds maneuvered into sneak attack positions and knocked Malkath into unconsciousness.

As the others, joined the chaos and started to systematically take down their foes, the Arcanist cast Create Pit to make life hard for the two Kobolds. Unfortunately, he didn't realize he placed the pit in a position where Malkath's body would fall in. Malkath's body fell 30 feet and died from the falling damage.

After the fight, Hishka offered to Reincarnate Malkath and he was brought back in the form of a Half-Elf.

Being a couple months into our run of Age of Worms using Pathfinder, we finally experienced a casualty.

Name: Tiberious
Class: Fighter(Archer) 4
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Loaction: The Labyrinth
Catalyst: Hungry and angry Dire Weasel

As the rest of the party ran into a group of Tengu in one of the small rooms littered about the Labyrinth of Urgothua, Tiberious decided to make sure that they weren't going to be surprised by anything else that might flank them. He stealthed his way up to a small section that housed a pair of Dire Weasels. Despite his stealth, the Weasels were able to smell his presence and found him all by his lonesome.

On his attempt to run back, he got bit by one of the weasels and was Grappled and found himself being drained of his blood. After 3 rounds of failing to get free, Tiberious fell to loss of hit points and his Constitution dropped down to 2 as his friends were seconds too late to come to his rescue.

Name: Davor
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Fighter 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau Town Square
Catalyst: Eugenie and Vicenith(Using variant build from GM Reference thread)
The Gory Details: After the Sorcerer cleared out the Skeletons with a well placed Fireball, Davor ran in to finish off the two clerics while the Inquisitor moved to back him up. One Round after failing a saving throw against a casting of Ghoul Touch from Vicenith, Eugenie took the opening to Coup de Grace with her Scythe and kill Davor. The two Clerics were quickly defeated afterwards by the rest of the party.

Name: Milo
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 8
Adventure: Broken Moon
Location: Feldgrau Tower
Catalyst: Auron Vrood
The Gory Details: The three remaining party members(Sorcerer, Inquisitor, and Oracle) stormed the tower after the Fighter's death. They quickly dispatched the Skeletal Archers on the second floor and began searching for Vrood who they knew to be there somewhere. The Inquisitor used Invisibility Purge and was lucky to reveal Vrood before he could rise above the effect of the spell. However, Vrood dropped Circle of Death right after which Milo unfortunately was unable to resist. Figuring retreat was no longer an option, the Inquisitor and the Oracle were able to dispel many of Vrood's defenses and take him down for good.

Out of curiosity Delve, I know you were doing adventures for your alternate AP, have these been finished yet, or are they still in the works? I am really liking what you have done so far and would love a chance to see what you've done for the Shackled City.

To Arms!!! *begins gathering all of his worms*

Yeah, if I end up running AoW, I would be looking forward to Prince of Redhand.

Be wary of "Three Faces of Evil", which is pretty much just a straight dungeon-crawl - I'd recommend upping the ante by disconnecting the three micro-dungeons, so finding them through investigation is as much an impetus as just killing all the bad guys. Or you may want to make the Faceless One someone who killing might have reprocussions in Diamond Lake - Wierus, perhaps? A rival mine manager?

Good luck finding what's right for your group!

I like that idea about splitting up the dungeons for 3FoE. To tell the truth, I was sort of worried how that one go with my group. The other one I am kind of concerned about is the dungeon below the Champion Games. That seemed kind of big too.

Yeah, I agree that SCAP could work out to have a Rp aspect to it, but just like you said, the DM has to put the time to it, and I don't have that time to work on developing the NPC's given to make that work.

So far as I can tell, it is a little bit easier in the AoW.

At the moment, I am fighting between the AoW and the more recent Dragonlance adventures that have been produced in the last couple years by Soverign Press. I know the Dragonlance has the potential to be good with RP and story and interesting fights. And based off of some threads I've read here, the AoW has the potential as well.

I believe their was a thread like this before somewhere, I just can't find it, so here goes.

Recently, my group has been playing the Shackled City AP, and I have noticed that they aren't having as much fun with it as I hoped. Travelling through the Jzadirune really got them turned off from the game, it was way too big and too many combats.

So, I've been thinking it over, and was thinking if they might like the Age of Worms better.

The group as a whole enjoys the Roleplaying and story side of the game a bit more than the rules and massive combat, although they enjoy combat, they don't want almost every corner they turn to be another encounter.

My question, for those who are running it or playing through it, does this Adventure Path have a lot more promise than the Shackled City. Does the Age of Worms offer more chances to RP and to develop story than the Shackled City?

I have the all of the issues, but I couldn't rightfully tell just by reading them if this would work better.

Thanks.

Oh I also forgot to mention that we've already had our 1st PC death. The Ranger, against everyone's objections, wondered ahead as they enter the Malachite Fortress. Pretty much, after 2 hits from the Stone Spike, 1 being a Critical Hit, he was paste on the floor.

And the way I understand it, he will be coming in as a...Fighter...sigh...

We understand though, that he is isn't the brightest bulb out there, and has a hard time understanding all of the complex abilities other classes gain. The Fighter is the best class for him.

So pretty much the Party is a group of 3 Fighters, a Fighter Rogue, a Wizard, and a Warmage.

Wow, thanks for all of the helpful suggestions. These will all help a lot.

I think another problem we have is that we switch off campaigns every week. We do mine 1 week and then another player runs one the next week, and we alternate. In the case of the last session we had, it had been alomost a month since we last played mine so everyone forgot was going on, except they know they were looking for kids.

I don't mind alternating weeks, as it gives more time to work on the campaign outside of school work and having to go to work.

I just have to work on the roleplaying side of the game a little bit more. Although, I have to admit that is the area I am least experianced when running a game.

So, I am going to need to work on some RP encounters for the players, specically with their contacts in town, when they finish the adventure. Also thinking of having a little celebration at the town hall in their names. Congratulating them for their Heroism. There they get to meed the Lord Mayor, Tereson, Alek Tercival, Lord Vhalantru, and possibly other important people.

Thanks again. If there is any more help anyone can offer, I am all ears.

Thanks for the responce. We've had almost the same amount of interaction as you have.

I have given them NPC's they know:

The Dwarven Fighter/Rogue who is also a weaponsmith knows the local smith in town;

The Elf Ranger knows Tygot, as he is looking for a friend of his and Tygot was supposedly the last to see him.

The Local Human FIghter knows Srgt Krewis.

The Elf Wizard is acquanted with Felian and Fario and knows of Meerthan. He is attempting to find them in town.

The Half-Drow fighter knows Shensen.

The Elf Warmage...I can't really remember without my notes near me. But she might have known Jenya.

The first session detailed them investigating at the Temple, the Orphanage, and Keygan's shop. THey also began to explore Jzadirune. They've gone up top once, when one player was down, and they were almost out of Potions. There is also no Cleric in the group. They took care of some shopping while up top, mostly paying to remove the Clumsyness curse from two of the characters.

So maybe I should probably introduce Fario and Felian then, to give some Roleplaying.

Anything to try and keep things fun for everyone?

After about 4-5 sessions so far, the game has finally entered the Malachite Fortress.

But that isn't the problem, just an idea of where we are.

The problem is that most of the group isn't having fun with the big dungeon crawl. I talked with them extensively after last session and we've determined that the majority of the group care more about the Roleplaying and story elements of the game, not the rules extensive side of the game.

I was wondering if there is any possible way to salvage the game to keep everyone interested.

Any way to make the rest of this adventure more Roleplay then ROLLplay. THere is a lot of combat in this campaign, which is where all the Rollplay is from.

I don't want to quit running this campaign, but I want to make sure everyone is having fun as well.

Any help will be appreciated.

After 4 sessions, my group will be entering the Malachite Fortress next session. We don't play as often as I liked, so we are going slow at it. We also play in the Forgotten Realms.

Rezo the Red Priest - Half Drow Fighter 2 (Polearm fighter)
Drev Drahan- Human Fighter 2 (Scarred- Soul)
Darin Dragonshield - Gold Dwarf Fighter 1/Rogue 1
Kel - Sun Elf Wizard 2
Lia - Wood Elf Ranger 2 (nonspellcasting variant)
Sarva - Sun Elf Warmage 2

That's right no cleric at all. They have used up most of the potions given to them by Jenya, and have had to go up to surface once to get aid from Jenya. Especially since both the Warmage and Dwarf was cursed by the Coin trap in the room with the Illusion of the sleeping Gnome. Plus, they got pretty beat up by a Pulverizer.

This should be fairly interesting to see what happens. :)

Well, I can't help with the bulding models, but at the beginning and end of each chapter there is sidebar of sorts with a black background that details what level the PC's should be at the start and finish of each chapter and any developments that may have developed in the background.

Yeah, lucky is the world. I run SH every other week with my group, while on the off week one of the others in the group runs a campaign. We pretty much switch off campaigns every week. So it will take twice as long as normal to finish it for us. Fortunately it gives 2 weeks to prepare.

Thanks for all of the replies. I will probably have Fario and Felian be following discretely, and if the party gets into too much trouble then I will have them help. Otherwise, I will have them show up to help escort the prisoners back to safety when the time comes.

Out of curiosity, at what point did you have Vhalantru(sp?) show up in the battle with Kazmojen?

This last weekend my group pretty much finished with Jzadirune and ready to enter the Malachite Fortress. I have a couple weeks before we run this again, we switch off campaigns every week, but I want a chance to really prepare for the game.

One question I have is there anything in this part of the adventure that I am going to need to look out for or keep in mind?

Also, I havent had the chance to introduce Fario and Felian yet, should I attempt to introduce them at any point, even if the party doesn't end up needing any help.

Any other advice that could help me run this part of the adventure would much appreciated.

Hmm, makes me wonder how my group will fare against Drakthar. There is no cleric in the group so far. And they are currently going through their Potions that Jenya gave them while going through Jzadirune. Just last session, I knocked one of the Fighters into the negatives with a Critical hit + sneak attack from Yrthub(sp?).

I just got mine today here in Minneapolis, MN. It looks great so far.

The best place to look is here:

http://therpgenius.com/Default.aspx?alias=therpgenius.com/shackledcity

There a couple good files that some people submitted that have what you are looking for.

Myself, I used Fungimunchers Campaign Pack, and editted it for my game.

There are also other sites that people posted for their games that have useful info for players before the game. If you look hard enough, you can find the threads.

I too would like to see this. Seems like it would help out a lot.

themind15(AT)msn(DOT)com

Thanks

One question I have for the Jzadirune doors is should I give the PC's experiance for opening the doors with the keys?

Last session, they broke through one of the R doors, activating the trap. Then after they found the J key, they used that on all of the J doors they came across. Should they get exp for opening the J door the first time with the key? I wasn't sure if that counted for bypassing the trap technically for exp.

I encourage my players to play different characters if theirs happens to die. There are dozens of different types of characters they can play, and so far they have been fairly creative with their first PC's in this campaign.

As for the equipment on a PC that dies. Thanks to one of the players, the group has taken the philosophy of taking any item that PC was carrying that was needed in the dungeon or the story. Plus any potions and wands they may have found in said dungeon. Otherwise, they leave everything else alone. They've come into the mindset that this guy was our friend and we should not desecrate his body like grave-robbers.

Thanks.

Another question though. I've been toying with the idea of reducing the down sides of resurrection spells. What I was thinking of was instead of reducing the PC 1 level and then halfway to the next level, being resurrected would make you lose exp equal to your ECL * 500.

This would increase the want to be resurrected if the PC dies, especially later on if the PC has been around for awhile and has developed as a character pretty well.

Is this a good comprimise to the resurrection spells? What should I do for new characters if I use this system?

This is the first campaign I am running where I know that the possiblity of PC death is rather high, in the past I wasn't too keen on having PC death's. But I've come to terms for this to be an enjoyable campaign for me and the Players, there has to be chances of death without the players figuring I'll save their butts everytime.

My real question is when it comes to players making new characters, at what level would you suggest bringing them in at? At whatever the Average level of the party is? One level lower?

Thanks.

It seems to me that the purpose of those keys is up to the DM to decide.

They could have been there as a possible hook to a future adventure in the AP that was never picked up on or just ignored.

Thanks for all of the responces. I had the same reservations about the duration and the Int to Damage. But mostly the duration. The damage part can be generalized in the wording of the spell description. Can say that your intellect or force of will empowers your melee attacks.

I really like the Arcane Prowess idea. That is the most reasonable trade off for an offensive combat buff for a 1st level spell, compared to the original draft of the spell.

A player asked me about researching a personal spell for his Wizard. Here is the gist of it

Spellsword
Transmutaion
Lvl: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Duration: 10 minutes/level

Allows the caster to use his main spellcasting stat; Int for Wizards, Cha for Sorcerors; instead of his/her strength for melee attacks and Damage.

Does this seem reasonable for a 1st level? He reasons that it seems on par with Mage Armor and other lv 1 buff spells. Also that if the badguys happen to get passed the frontliners, he has something to fall back on. But in all actuallity, he also likes to run up in Melee, especially if he doesn't feel like using up a spell slot.

Bard's a nice choice. Many people don't like them, but they nicely fill in for any part of the group that is missing.

And to add a few more lyrics from the great Bard Stephen Lynch:

I sit in my room, which I call the Dragon's Tomb, when I am not with my girlfriend, its D&...

Wait, wait.. you got a girlfriend...

Well, yeah...no

It's D&D.

(sorry, I couldn't help it)

Here's an updated list of my group

Darin - Gold Dwarf Fighter 1
Rezo the Red Priest - 1/2 Drow Fighter 1
Sarva - Sun Elf Warmage 1
Lia - Wood Elf Ranger 1
Kel - Sun Elf Wizard 1
Drev - Human FIghter 1 (Scarred Soul)

They have survived 1 session so far. They've haven't had too much trouble with the thugs or Skulks, although they are getting sick and tired of the things coming out of nowhere and stabbing them.

Next session should be pretty interesting, as I expect them to explore more of the ruins and come across the more deadly foes in the complex.

Figured I should add in my lot to this thread, plus I don't want to derail the thread I posted this in anymore.

I should be starting this campaign this weekend (hopefully) and will have 6 players. We are playing it in the Forgotten Realms, set in Chult.

The Party as I know it so far:
Gold Dwarf Fighter 1
Human Fighter 1 (Scarred Soul)
Sun Elf Wizard 1
Human Ranger 1 (using the nonspellcasting variant from the Complete Warrior)
Human Fighter 1 (Polearm fighter)
????

The first four I know about for sure, the last two not entirely sure yet. The one I don't know about yet has been sick lately and haven't talked with anyone in the group yet. But he normally plays a Rogue or maybe a Bard.

So as things look, my group will be going in without a Cleric or any type of healer.

Is there any advice for dealing with this? I was thinking of letting things take their course to let them see that they need a healer. By the way, I did warn them about how lethal the campaign would be and expressed that a Balanced Party would be needed for best chance of survival.

Being Skie likes to hear stories from her patrons, the PC's may say where they got it. And I wouldn't find it hard to believe that she knows about the Vanishing. I'd have her tell them to get those items cured before they sell them. ANd being the business woman she is, she would probably get verification from the church that probably helped in the removal of the curse.

Remove Curse should do the trick. THe description says it will remove a Curse from any Item or person. Except for Shields, weapons, and armor.

Read up on Remove Curse in your PHB or in the SRD.

I am also running this for 6 PC's. Hopefully starting it this weekend. And it should be quite interesting. The party is Fighter heavy.

We got 3 Fighters, 1 Wizard, 1 Ranger(non-spellcasting variant from Complete Warrior), and the last one I'm not sure of yet, but he is usually a Rogue or Bard.

So as you see, the party may be down a Rogue and probably down a Cleric or any other type of healing.

Any thoughts on what I should do about this. I did warn them about the lethality of this campaign and that a balanced Party would be best to survive, but I guess they didn't seem to listen.

I was mainly thinking of letting things take their course to show that they need a healer. I don't think I should bail them out if they ignored my warning.

Well, do the Hobgoblins know that Kazmojen has been killed. If they are in the PC's path on the way out from the Kazmojen fight, they may not know that their leader has been killed.

Of course, if the PC's are carrying something that is very clearly supposed to be on Kazmojen, then the Hobgoblins could be enraged for the PC's killing their leader.

It totally matters on what happened up to the point.

Ok, here we go agian. I am going to be running this at the table this weekend, again in the Forgotten Realms. And again I am having trouble with trying to give the PC's someone to know in the city. I got 6 PC's, 4 I know about for sure.

Sun Elf Wizard - Originally from Silverymoon, interested in knowing about monsters and war. I can't think of what to do about this one.

Gold Dwarf Fighter - Can't remember where he is supposed to be from, but he is also a weaponsmith. I was thinking of either with local smithy, Gurnezarn or one of the dwarfs that were kidnapped.

Human Ranger - Also not a local, he is looking for a Gnome friend of his, which will probably be one of the gnomes that was kidnapped.

Human Fighter - Local guy who has an interest in big weapons who sees himself as a kind of merc. Maybe a friend of Sergent Krewis.

THe others I don't have much info about them yet. One sounds like he is going to be a Fighter focusing on a polearm weapon, and the other will most likely be rogue or bard.

Any suggestions for the four mentioned above?

Well, another concern of mine is that should this be allowed for someone who wants an Exotic Weapon that he couldn't normally afford?

One character is making the Craft(Weaponsmith) part of his character and background.

The other, as far as I know, just wants to do it so he can afford a Jovar from the Planar Handbook, which costs 500gp.

Otherwise, I like the 1/3 of the cost for the forge.

A couple of my players are want to make some of their starting weapons, as opposed to just buying them straight out.

Now, I think that this shouldn't be considered to have already happened, that he should make the Craft checks at the table. Also, I figure the character would have to rent a forge from a smithy, and since the smithy would be missing out on some work, he would charge the PC for the time spent at the forge.

The only thing I am having trouble with is the Price of renting the forge per day or week. What would be considered a fair price for renting out a forge?

There should have been a poster map of Cauldron that came with the Hardcover. One side is Cauldron as a whole and the other side shows Cauldron after eruption.

Wow, I am gone for a few weeks and this explodes with posts.

Well, I talked to him and he accepted my ruling.

The reason I needed to reason with him was because he doesn't like to be denied something just "Because". One of the other DM's in our group does that quite often to us, and it drives my friend crazy.

My reasons were:
a) The stuff in that book are optional and are used at my discretion.

b) Spontaneous spellcasting is described as to be used for all spellcasting, wizards, clerics, etc.

c) Even if I ruled it work just for him, it would greatly unbalance the usefullness of the Sorceror.

I want him to play the type of character he wants to play, there are just some limits to what I want to allow. I have allowed him to go for the Dragonlance Warmage PrC, the errataed version though. He has never been able to truly play the type of characters he wants to play, either because the game doesn't last that long or the game is a real meatgrinder that they die before he can truly develop the character.

Anyways thanks for the advice, it helped out a lot.

Both are good points. That should help me quite a bit. Thanks.

I am looking for advice for reasoning on disallowing the Unearthed Arcana.

I am going to be starting the SHackled City in a few weeks, and my friend wants to do a Spontaneous Wizard, and when I said I wasn't going to allow the book, he wanted to know why. Now we are good firends, and he wants a reason more than because I am the DM and I said so.

My main thought was that the othrs in the group may starting to ask for stuff from the book and if I say no they will complain because I let the wizard do his thing from the book. But I don't think that will fly with him.

Can anyone help me come up with a justification to not allow this book?

No they don't get Sneak Attacks. I think that was just how he was describing it.

Ok, Now I have the Monk.

Mai Silvertail: Female Wood Elf Monk 1

She has the Mark of the Beast(tiger) trait.

Has goofy personality.

What would be a good FR diety for her to have and who would she know in the City?

Yeah, thats mostly what I did. I gave her a list of Noble families, from one of the documents at the rpgenious site.

I made it where her familiy has membership at the Cusp of Sunrise, and where she was good friends with many of the people at the Temple of Tyr(St. Cuthbert).

Its all worked out. But still waiting on the Monk character.

Well I just got info from the Cleric

Larien Telrúnya: Female Moon Elf Cleric of Sehanine Moonbow 1

She has the Nobility trait. What background she has is that her family has a plantation near Cauldron. She spent a year in Waterdeep where she became a cleric so she can help her brother who is Dream Haunted. She is trying to help him either get rid of his dreams of help him understand what is being revealed to him in his dreams.

Any suggestions on who she would know in Cualdron. I'm guessing something to do with the Coy Nixie.

Well, the spot just filled. Sorry people.

By the way, Urthblade or whoever, there is now a spot open in my game.

The party really needs a cleric.

The game is set in the Forgotten Realms.

Email me at themind15 (at) msn (dot) com

mention the SC game in the subject so I dont think it is junk.

I will then send the info to you about getting set up on rpol