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A popular tactic is to ready an action to fire a ranged weapon at a spellcaster, if they start casting a spell.
I like what you've done with her. I gave her a Water-Elemental bloodline, partially so that she could "overwater" them with Hydraulic Push or a water-related Fireball (sucks water out of the ground, and detonates a high-pressure blast!), and partially because being able to boss the water around would give her a lot of power in a flower-reliant place.
Ooh, this'll be handy for updating the Dragon's Demand to the most current stuff! That poison breath attack got me looking for something that reduces poison damage. Other than two things that show up in an AP, all you get are things that give you a bonus on saves vs. poison.
In-between two APs, I decided a drow the PCs rescued got retconned into having been Sekmin. So the players will probably do some double-takes before they realize what happened. That'll have to be done to the whole AP, which might take less work than I estimate. Then again, I don't know how much that'd be.
"Belief makes a god" is perhaps my least favorite description of divinity. I shall be happy to determine that this was delusion.This has been a core fundamental of the setting from day one (although it took a bit to scrub all of that influence out—certain other TTRPG campaign settings have a lot of influence!), because the idea of a god who has no worshipers active but can still be a god and potentially come back or have secret cults and all that was there from the very start of the Pathfinder Adventure Path in Lissala's story. It's fun to explore settings that differentiate themselves from each other. This isn't Discworld, nor is it That Other TTRPG Setting, and I don't mind the reminders of such. Keep 'em coming!
I'm about to run Return of the Runelords as possibly my last PF1 AP, and my players are already wondering what it'll be like in Sandpoint.
I like how the setting's going all-in on the concept of, "Magic's an ambient energy you can manipulate with your bare hands and your mind."
Also, I can imagine half a party being disappointed over finding most of the magic objects in the dragon's hoard drained, with the other half immediately going to skin the dragon and see what they can do with all the gilded scales.
Religion doesn't work on Golarion the way it works on the Discworld: the power of the god does not relate to the size of the god's religion (plus, some religions are active on more than just Golarion). Dead gods and forgotten gods aren't the same thing. Still, there are people on Golarion who think it does work this way. Or at least, if they can't kill a deity, the least they can do is kill followers of that deity and profane sacred spaces. I played one antagonist whose motivation was an incorrect assumption that Iomedae murdered Aroden and took his place. So I looked around here for those bad faith, "Iomedae Is Actually Evil" takes and put them in his mouth. The PCs tried to bait him into fighting them on their terms by praising Iomedae while they were walking around (which mainly just alerted his minions to their presence).
I'm going to start this AP sometime in the next few months, and my players want to end the trilogy by fighting Mhar.
Spoiler:
I plan to give them their first Mythic Tier via deicide at the end of Chapter 4; their second after their meeting in Stethelos; and the third at the very end of the AP.
Mhar is CR 28, but the PCs will hopefully have an alliance with Sorshen, Belimarius, and their other PCs directing Hellknights of the Nail firing at Mhar with their +5 Freezing Burst Catapults. Am I on the right track here?
This makes sense.
It also makes Quests slightly easier to write in a free-form sort of way: here's the setup, here are some of the most likely DCs related to the obstacles, here's a major NPC. What will you do about this?
Metrics, I think it'd be better to recreate Don't Starve in Pathfinder, rather than attempt to emulate it exactly. Instead of giving weapons and armor HP & Hardnes like shields, maybe have Minor Downtime actions, that you can do two or three of at once, and have Maintain Gear be one of them. Building new weapons, fixing Umbrella Hats, and the like. Similarly, your first Spider/Beefalo hunt should be a group encounter; later, once you've levelled up enough, it can be a solo encounter; then later, it can be a Minor Downtime Action, getting you Food & Clothes Resources based on your Proficiency. Sorta like how that first fight with a Tallbird is life-threatening if you just have a spear & grass armor, but once you have weapons & armor made from Nightmare Fuel, you may have more food than you can possibly eat.
I was thinking of doing this at one point. I'd make it a Hexploration adventure, where Treasure is more resources than money. One character may have to Subsist for the group until they can set up a base. Once they make a Farm/Kitchenware, then they can make finished meals. There are already examples of Alchemy Food. Since you don't gain levels in DST, I'd suggest Proficiency Without Level. Weapons breaking also doesn't work well in PF2, so you could go to APB and have magic weapons just be better ones, in a Spear>Spike>Dark Sword>Thulecite Club sort of thing. I did try to stat out the Deerclops & Moose/Goose in PF1, and have been meaning to try again in the latest edition. As for what to do, explore the place? Find specific objects? Stick the key in the gate and the heart in the fossil, fight the resulting boss fight, then jump through the gate? I'd like to try setting this up, and running it for people who've never played DST.
Under the current Drug Rules, you have to make two Fort Saves when using one; the first to see if you don't actually use it (though if you want to use it, you'll voluntarily Fail it), and the second to see if you get an Addiction. Addictions work like a disease, with a new Save each week to see if you improve. You can suppress addiction by using whatever drug gave you the addiction, but it might make that addiction worse. If you're of a high-enough Level or have Legendary Fort Saves, there's nothing stopping you from speedballing one of everything (other than that beneficial First Stage lasting only a minute sometimes), and even if you do fail that save, a cleric can cure that right up. Now that we have Alchemy Food, I want to rework drugs into basically Alchemy Food With Downsides.
The House Rules for Drugs
Here are some example re-worked drugs: Flayleaf (Alchemical, Consumable, Drug, Ingested/Inhaled, Poison) Level 0
Pesh (Alchemical, Consumable, Drug, Inhaled, Poison) Level 1
Zerk (Alchemical, Consumable, Drug, Injury, Poison) Level 4
After two long years (about a third of which was full of session cancellations), the Sihedron Council managed to rebuild the Shattered Star and show it to the late Emperor one last time. (Due to adjustments I made to the AP, they also found that the Shattered Star was never actually shattered in the first place - Xin mailed a shard to each of his apprentices, with incomplete information on how to put them together. Instead of working together to finish it, they fought over which one would build it singularly, and worked together to send an assassin after him during a loss of the anti-teleportation ward in his palace.) Their names: Gaius Stormshield née Gaius Coruncanius Vettonianus (Chelish human Armiger Fighter/Hellknight) Vissaa Sewer Dragon, Absalom kobold Starsoul Sorcerer (Absalom's first kobold astronomer!) Torsten Ironbrew, Chirurgeon Alchemist with a dip in Fighter (The last remaining heir to some of Janderhoff's lost brewing secrets) Purrcible McCoy, Rahadoumi Amurran Wisdom Witch (who later, after having met the metzlan, decided to learn their ways by tossing his familiar aside and retraining into Oozemorph) Here is their denoument. Lockerbie & Liza Jane Brast remained as, y'know, sewer custodians. They made sure to only eat derro crawling up from the Darklands, which kept happening surprisingly often. The Tower Girls, under leadership of Ayala, helped people out of the flooding and made sure that people got their necessities while their homes were drying out. The reputation of the Sczarni as a whole improved in Magnimar, and the Nailers had to put that in their pipes and smoke it! The Order of the Nail, their sterling reputation polished further by their organized handling of citizens during the Rise of the Isle of Xin and subsequent repairs, served them well in their other pursuits. Not only shall they bring their hammers down on the remaining cultists of the region, but they shall soon stamp out the lawless Sczarni threat once and for all! The xulgath of these lands left the loathsome boggards and their hag friend to the Lady's Cape. Forced into letting bugbears offer their idea of help, they still rob river-goers in the south. Some went north, to turn to the World Thunder. The xulgath as a whole face hard times. Maroux finally got some peace and quiet. Screw all y'all! Kanya & Herifax lived a fast, carefree life, squandering all the stuff they were given. Eventually Fufu the Lurker ate them, but they were so overdosed, they didn't mind, or notice really. Despite having received little funding, the most of which had come from Korvosa, Windsong Abbey saw itself rebuilt, with the help of some penitent giants. There is now a chapel - small to a giant - dedicated to both Aegirran, the Sea Dreamer, and Minderhal, the stone giant god of justice. Pilgrims have begun to return to Windsong, including, bemusingly, at least one Groetesian. Worship of Lisalla, in any organized way, ceased in Varisia. Many former Lisallans, disillusioned or desperate, turned to other faiths. Soralyon, the Mystic Angel, took in some, while others heard Mhar's belching of smoke and molten rock. Others, however, were shown the uncaring light of distant stars, and began to whisper to anyone willing to hear of it, of the benificence of the Crawling Chaos. Their numbers are small, but in the endless length of time, the whole galaxy shall know the power of the Chaotic Evil side! Shasthaak, rune giant graveknight, returned to the world at large! Having completed his goal of killing Emperor Xin, he set about searching for any remaining presence of his lieges, to inform them of his success! The Sihedron Council was a brilliant idea from its very beginning, having apparently saved Magnimar twice over. Their former membership of the Pathfinder Society, and their renown throughout the city-state, inspired the people of Magnimar to new heights of literacy, making Magnimar, I daresay, even more highly educated than the backward outpost of Korvosa! They stand vigilant, ready to defend Varisia from dangers of its antiquity. They even managed to recover one of the Seven Swords of Sin, and used it in conjunction with the Sihedron to, well, that's another story. (Mid-Credits Stinger)
I say do it.
You can add some more texture to dungeon crawls simply by having foes surrender. Maidens in Chapter 2 can be looking for a way to Resurrect their late queen, while some of them may believe she's still out there, ready to re-assert control of her city-state from the evil fools who overthrew her.
Name: Purrcy McCoy
The Details:
They saw him get hit by the giant's Spark Shower, then the two of them die as Xin threw a hasty Mythical Meteor Storm and a Quickened Empowered Fireball at him, failing both saves against his own spells.
Purrcy didn't get out of the way of either the giant's Spark Shower, nor the Emperor's Meteor Storm. He had the Sihedron thrown to him, though, meaning they couldn't rely on it to bring anyone back during the final fight with the Reliquary. It was the final PC death of the entire AP.
Here's the way I think of it, when I'm the GM (though it will never really be relevant):
He saw himself micro-managing the lives of his worshippers.
He went to Pharasma, and asked for advice. She suggested something along the lines of allowing his people to make their own future.
...He might have gotten a laugh out of watching Tar-Baphon blow himself up by accident.
I'm not talking about just any symbol of Thassilon; I mean THE Sihedron that had a whole AP to it.
I'd guess it'd be either in New Thassilon or Magnimar's Museum of Ages. In either case, I hope Sorshen & Belimarius get a chance to try it out and find out what their predecessor truly had in mind.
Name: Vissaa Sewer Dragon
The Details:
Later, they found a magic robe held by a statue with a spell on it to make you want whatever it was holding. Everyone thought that was very suspicious, and ignored the statue's offering of the beautiful robe. Then the writing on the floor started zapping them, and they had to fight it. One of the Floating Runes turned into a Symbol of Pain, giving everyone -4 on Saves as soon as Vissaa was closest to the statue. She said, "Ow! That's it! Vissaa will stop Metal Man from doing stupid things! Vissaa knows how to do things safe! LIKE THIS!" She grabbed the Robe of Powerlessness, put it on, fell over, looked at the Symbol it was concealing, and died on the spot. It was Sir Gaius who flung the Sihedron at her, calling upon its True Resurrection as he did. Vissaa was alive and sane again, but still needed help getting out from under the robe.
As much as I like the look of the sketches, I'll most likely want to finally show to my players the sight of Xanderghul, fashionably late, in all his glorious, eye-blasting colour! Speaking of, I'm torn between him having made contingency plans for his own death, or of such an utter certainty that it would be unnecessary, that he's just rhetorically asking the rulers of the afterlife if they seriously know who he is.
I thought I saw one chapter of an Adventure Path in 1st Edition that includes a mimic. I might be wrong, in which case I don't know if one has ever been in a store-bought adventure.
I would like to see something about syrinx society. Ever since I first read the bit that said they "made the strix as a servitor race", I imagined syrinx landing on rocks in the Arcadian Ocean, sticking their heads in the water, and shouting at algolthu, "You stole our idea and you're doing it the wrong way!" Also, I'd like to see more about the geopolitics of the region, and how each nation dealt with/contributed to the fall of Razatlan. It'd get a laugh out of me if the fall of the empire was attributed to small groups of Concerned Citizens who, say, amassed unbelievable power and large groups of followers in months, only to retire in obscurity once the freedom was in the hands of the people.
My Rise group, due to problems all around, got the Bad End. They still wanted to play Shattered Star and complete the trilogy. So the search for the Shards began six months after the Rise of Mhar. So trade has been disrupted and routes had to be redrawn due to the presence of an enormous volcano with legs stumbling around the landscape. I've determined that there is at least one NPC capable of casting 9th-level spells, who basically has to request a Miracle of "Save us from Mhar" on a near-daily basis to keep him away from major cities. (Small villages, however, are in dangerous positions) Also, there has been a rise in World Thunderers (people who worship Mhar) who think they can gain favour by throwing sacrificial victims into Mhar's caldera. In other news, I looked up some "Worldbuilding With Food" ideas, and determined that potatoes were originally Varisian, but have been exported throughout the world via Absalom. Oparan chefs recently hit upon a dish of fried fish and potatoes! Also, tomatoes were brought over from Arcadia by Chelish sailors, and now they claim it was always a Chelish fruit. I also claim Golarion has some veggies that can't be found in the real world, but I haven't specified anything about any of them.
Name Purrcible McCoy
The Gory Details: The chernobue fell on everyone, paralyzing Sir Gaius and confusing Purrcy, to both players' dismay.
We were all grossed out by the whole thing; Purrcy's first words upon recovery were, "Death is preferable! DEATH IS PREFERABLE!!"
Name: Sir Gaius Stormshield; Purrcible McCoy
The Gory Details: I'd decided the two generic mummies in the room with Luthask were low-level Pathfinders, furious at how they got jumped by redcaps and undeadified by someone they didn't know, and nobody even bothered to find out what happened to them while the Society's Golden Children could get Resurrected whenever they'd want!
Name: Vissa Sewer Dragon
The Gory Details:
My PCs are just heading into this chapter, which I'd foreshadowed at the start of the previous one (mentions of some wierd exodus of monsters from Hollow Mountain).
He, like so many other followers of Aroden, was stricken with despair when his god died on the day of his prophecized Second Coming, but when Iomedae inherited his mantle, he over-reacted. That way, his belief that Iomedae murdered Aroden as part of a coup becomes more personal. I also want to have bits of information revealed slowly to the PCs: In their initial research, they find out that Windsong has lost some status ever since the Arodenite murdered the Iomedan and stormed out in a violent rampage (he's been somewhat of a bogeyman ever since). If they do enough research, they'll find out the man was an elf. When they get there, maybe Kob-Kog or Sufestra name-drops Adrathanatus. Other minions will confirm he follows Yamasoth. Then, Rickle Peakes will be all like, "Hi, I'm Adrathanatus! Didja know that Iomedae's actually Evil and Yamasoth is actually Good?" Hopefully, by the time Kandamerus mentions that Adrathanatus built all the constructs in the place, the PCs will fit it all together and shout out something like, "OH NO he's the guy who went on the murderous rampage here like a hundred years ago!" This way, his redemption could involve asking him, "Is this what the Last Azlanti would have wanted?"
There was a sanitorium in Rise of the Runelords, with part of the horror coming from it having been run by a man who was more interested in studying insanity than caring for its inmates as people. He'd made zombies out of previous patients, but he was the best defense in the area for a plot-related thing that was going on. It left my PCs in a moral dilemma. Similarly, I had a charcter once who was a LG Cult Master mesmerist, who I played as a magic psychotherapist. He was honest that his False Lay-On-Hands was a special trick he had learned and improved to ignore pain, and that they'd need some real healing or medicine later. The Leadership followers he would get would end up being staff for his eventual praxis, but I left the adventure before it got that far.
That might be a good place to put the trip.
Due to having played through Rise with all the I feel like an opportunity was missed, but I like what they did with the ones they put in the AP. As for what you're doing in your AP, there are other possibilities. Take it to Runeforge to reforge it into the Blade of Kindness? Bring it to Alaznist, who commands it to break, or go to someone she designates as her new champion? One who won't try to use it against her? Personally, I plan to have one of Alaznist's sinspawn carry Garvok; Baraket (which had been reforged as a Blade of Humility) wants to return to Xanderghul and give him a warning he may not want to hear; Sorshen will tell her Sinuous Guisarme that it could learn a thing or two from Arshia, now the Blade of Love; they might even be able to recover Chellan.
Name: Chiyaliso "Chili"
After fighting our way through the Urgathoans, enjoying the simplicity of Good Fighting Evil after all the worries of "how are we going to infiltrate this purported hospice over nothing but suspicion?" Andaisen chopped off Chili's head with her scythe.
Later... Name: Tenris Chervenki, AKA "Softbrush"
After sneaking through the place and finding nothing dangerous, Softbrush walked through an open doorway and found a bunch of people throwing axes at him, followed by a screaming gnome with a greataxe charging him with a power attack. One axe hit, the Power Attack charge crit, chopping his head off. After getting revified, his first plan was to get his magic armor magically fortified.
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