Thorn of Clovenwood's page

Long ago, when the grandfather of the grandfather of my grandfather’s grandfather was a boy, this land was very different. The sky was blue, not black; bright, not dark. A great circle of fire burned high in the heavens, called the Sun – she cast light over the whole land. When the sun slept, her husband, the Moon, and their children, the Stars gave light instead.

In those days it was much warmer. Only in winter did it snow. In summer, men and women could walk outside naked and not feel chill - do not laugh so young Lajos, I said they could, not that they did. Trees wore crowns of green and bore fruit the size of a man’s fist. Rivers flowed with liquid water rather than flows of ice. People tamed the great herd animals and made them docile with abundant grass and grain; the herds did not roam and were easily killed for food.

Seven great tribes, each with many dozens of clans and ruled by mighty sorcerers, dwelt in this land. They lived not in tents but in the great stone cities, which were once alive with song and people. They wore clothing spun of spider silk rather than furs; they wore armour of worked metal rather than hides; and their spears too were of sharp metal rather than stone.

Then came a day when another fire appeared in the sky – small and red where the sun was big and bright. But this new, angry red light grew larger and brighter until it was brighter than the Sun. The people were frightened by this new light, and they appealed to their sorcerer kings for answers and protection, but the kings had vanished. Soon came the day that fire and stone rained down from the sky like snow. The earth heaved and split, cities crumbled, the forests and fields burned. Thick dark clouds of smoke and ash filled the sky. They hid the Sun, and the Moon, and their children the Stars. The land grew dark.

For days the clouds persisted, and it stayed dark. For seasons, for generations it stayed dark. Soon it grew cold, and colder still, until it was winter always. The rivers froze, the fields and forests that had not already burned now died, and the people and their tame herds starved. The cities that remained became places of death. Many people died. Those that survived left the cities to find a place that was still warm, where darkness did not have such a hold, but no places like that remained. The people asked the gods for help, but they could not, so they cursed the gods who would let all the lands turn to darkness and ice and forgot them. They asked the apprentices of the sorcerer kings for help, but they could not, so the people killed them.

With no fields and no tame beasts, the great tribes could not feed themselves, so the people who remained split into many smaller tribes. These tribes followed the migrating herds, and some of them survived. To survive, the people learnt to be good hunters and good scavengers, but this took everything and the people forgot much that they had once known.

- Velko the Storyteller

Hello good customer service folk,

I recently put in an order which included among other items ‘Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The First World, Realm of the Fey’ and ‘Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Horror Realms’. They are currently sitting in my sidecart awaiting my next subscription item to ship.

Oops, I stuffed up. I realised I have an unopened Paizo box from January which contains both of these! I ordered them and forgot, my bad.

So, if it is possible, can I swap out these two items (First World and Horror Realms) for two other items of equal value? Specifically ‘Campaign Setting: Heaven Unleashed’ and ‘Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight’ in print format?

If this can be done, fantastic, pre-emptive thank-yous! If it’s too late to change, that’s fine, I'll live.

I don’t have my notes with me, do you guys remember where we were up to exactly? I know we did the encounter with the water naga, was there another encounter subsequent to that?

We pick up with the heroes and their crew sojourning at the small village supporting the ship squibbing business known as Rickety’s Squibs, located in a small hidden cove somewhere along the Slithering Coast. Their ship, the Rahadoumi naval ship formerly known as The Man’s Promise is in drydock, being refit and repaired.

A heatwave is afflicting the area, bringing daytime temperatures up to uncomfortable levels and causing many of the smaller rivers and streams in the nearby hinterlands to dry up. Amongst other issues, this has led to some conflicts between human villagers and the significant local water naga population.

I’m after some advice on the most appropriate xp track to use when running 3.5 era modules or Aps using Pathfinder rules.

Specifically I am running the Age of Worms AP and (separately) the Falcon’s Hollow series of modules (Hollow’s Last Hope, Crown of the Kobold King, etc.) linked as a short campaign. I am planning to run things fairly close to as written, but converted to Pathfinder.

To keep things fairly on track, so that the PCs level roughly where expected, which Experience Track should I use?

To forestall suggestions that I forget xp rewards and just have the party level when they need to, I appreciate the various benefits of doing so, but prefer to hand out xp awards.

At a perfumed arcade known as the Emporium, Governor-Mayor Lanod Neff rubs shoulders with common labourers awaiting an appointment in the Veiled Corridor. In an adjoining antechamber, snakes and exotic dancers gyre to a sonorous weave of cymbals and seductive pipes. A floor below, a gaggle of grasping miners presses against the windowed door of a darkened cell, impatient for a glimpse of a two-headed calf.

Out in the street, a gang of rowdies screams obscenities at a crumpled halfling, kicking it as if scrambling for a ball. Their drunken laughter echoes off shuttered windows and bolted doors.

In a tower-flanked fortress across the shadowy square, filthy men with nothing to lose shout hymns to their strict god, clutching to their idealism and principles like cornered animals. Their wild eyed chief minister smiles as a he draws the cat-o-nine-tails across his bare back, awash in their adulation and the spirit of his god.

It’s just another night in Diamond Lake.

Since the beginning of history, humanity has measured time in Ages. Ages of Enthronement, of Destiny and even of Anguish mark the human tally of years, giving a sense of order to the events of past centuries. But one age has yet to occur – an age of fear, of decay, and of writhing doom. Witty bards and wrathful preachers know it as the Age of Worms, weaving it into the peripheries of their passion plays as a mythic era of destruction that could begin at any time. Astrologers, diviners, and the servants of Fate know more. The canniest among them fear that the Age of Worms has already begun…

Jade Regent

Chapter 1: The Brinewall Legacy

While the region known today as Varisia has long been inhabited (all the way back to the Age of Legend, when powerful wizards known as Runelords ruled the region as the Empire of Thassilon), it wasn’t until relatively recently that it came to the attention of the nations of the Inner Sea. Cheliax made an aggressive attempt to colonize Varisia, but conflict with its native peoples and the remote location made such attempts difficult. By the time of Aroden’s death and the Chelish Civil War, Cheliax’s colonies in Varisia had already become independent.

While the inland highlands of Varisia remain wild and untamed, a fair amount of its coastal lowlands are now civilized. Three cities in particular — Korvosa, Magnimar, and Riddleport — represent civilization’s three greatest modern triumphs in the region. Each of these cities has a number of smaller villages in its outlying reaches, and of these smaller settlements, the town of Sandpoint north of Magnimar is among the largest and most successful.

Welcome to the discussion thread for our Jade Regent game. Recruitment for this game is closed at this stage. For those who’ve been invited, post here to confirm your interest in the game. This is the place to discuss the campaign and character creation, do any out-of-character discussion and book-keeping, and keep the rest of the group posted if you’re going to be unavailable for a while.

Hey all, my brother Marty (Ash Walker when he occasionally visits these boards), long time role-player and gamer, has just published his first novel, a post-apocalyptic speculative fiction novel called Salvage.

Please visit his website www.martinrodoreda.com if you are interested in checking it out or ordering a copy.

Cheers, Moth

Perched at the edge of civilized lands, the small town of Falcon’s Hollow has always had to rely on itself to solve its problems. Meanwhile, the uncaring lumber barons squeeze the com¬mon folk for every last copper, deaf to their pleas. Now the hacking coughs of the sick are heard throughout town. The plague has come to Falcon’s Hollow and the town’s leaders can’t be bothered to stop it.

Discussion thread for our Darkmoon Vale campaign. We can start discussing character concepts and do character creation here.

Post to this thread to confirm your interest in the game. I believe we have six players; Nevynxxx, Aubrey, Pixie Rogue, Aardvark, therealthom, and Brashen (who plays in my face to face Skull and Shackles game and has played in some of my past pbp games). No further players needed at this point.

Shortly (hopefully) I’ll post up some character creation guidelines, and later in the week I’ll post up some additional campaign information which may also help inform character concepts or details.

Well, I am out of work as of today.

Please CANCEL my Pathfinder Roleplaying Game subscription.

Please suspend (for now) my Adventure Path subscription - how long can it stay suspended for before it either activates again or cancels?

Hi Paizo website crew,

I’ve noticed recently several accounts have been spamming the forums with unsolicited and irrelevant advertising material. I flagged one such dedicated thread in the off topic forum a few days ago, today an account ‘fghfgj’ has been posting advertising material into other threads (no other posts for this account except today’s advertising posts). I’ve flagged one such post, and humbly request that the account be blocked and all its posts be deleted.

Not sure if there’s anything that can be done to stop such accounts and posts in future?

I’ve noticed recently when editing a profile, it comes up with text on the screen similar to this: [UserProfile, id: 60]

This text has been appearing for quite a while, but I don’t think it always did. Just wondering what it means? If the number is 60, was I the sixtieth person to fill out a profile, or the sixtieth person to create a forum account, or something else entirely (mysterious programmy stuff)?

Nice!

Hey Gary, I went to create a new alias on my account today and got a message that ‘that avatar name is already in use’. However, when I did a search of ‘Users’ on the site with that name there were no results.

It’s no big deal; the alias I was planning to create was just a joke one, and the moment has passed, but I’m curious to know under what circumstances the alias name would be unavailable but wouldn’t show up in a search of users?

Hi Customer Service dudes and dudettes,

I just read Sara Marie’s post regarding December subscription shipments. I noticed that they will start shipping on December 8.

Is it possible that you could delay shipment of my copy of Bestiary 3 from my RPG subscription until the next AP volume ships in January?

Chances are, based on normal shipping times, if the Bestiary ships on December 8 or anytime in the next week or so from then, no one will be at the delivery address when it arrives (and for a week or two afterwards), and the package would be two big to fit in the mailbox.

Thanks in advance.

I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer to this question with a search of the messageboards; can a Bladebound Magus’ black blade be enchanted additionally to the enhancements and abilities on the ‘Black Blade Progression’ table using the Craft Magic Arms and Armour feat?

Ok ... maybe I’m just stupid or blind, but I can’t seem to find where / how to add a subscription to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line. If I go to the main page for say Pathfinder Modules or Pathfinder Campaign Setting I see, plain as day, in big lettering right in the middle of the page an option to add a subscription for those products, but I get nothing like that when I go to the Pathfinder RPG main page.

Assuming I’m not stupid or blind I suspect this may have something to do with me having previously been a subscriber to this line but cancelling my subscription – would this be the case?

My copy of Adventure Path number 51 was waiting for me in the mailbox today ... and to my dismay the envelope appeared to be in quite a bad state – three of the corners were bent, there was a big crease down the middle of the envelope where it appeared someone had tried to bend or fold it, and the whole thing was kind of warped.

I dreaded to think what the book inside would look like ... but when I opened it, the book was in almost perfect condition, with just a very slight bend to one of the corners of the front cover. Not bad for a soft-cover book inside a pretty badly mangled envelope!

So this is a long way of saying good work on your choice of envelopes Paizo!

Just heard, see here.

Nirvana’s Nevermind was released 20 years ago this weekend. Man I feel old.

I never heard Bleach prior to Nevermind’s release, being pretty young / on the wrong side of the world. I first heard Nevermind when I was 14, it must have been late 1991. Prior to that my musical tastes varied mainly between mainstream radio friendly pop, and older stuff my parents listened to (The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, Chris de Burgh ...)

We had some distant relatives from the US staying with us, I came home one day and this music was playing – Nirvana’s Nevermind, my American uncle had brought along a copy on cassette tape. I was fascinated, this music spoke to me. Totally changed my musical tastes and opened me up to a whole world of music I had never before explored.

I didn't notice a thread for this one - is anyone watching it? If so, what do you think?

I've caught a few episodes and am quite enjoying it almost despite myself (the depiction of vampires initially seemed a bit 'Twilighty' to me, and it being a US remake of a British series wasn't a big selling point).

Hello Customer Service guys and dolls.

So I received part of order 1749653 yesterday – Ultimate Magic and Jade Regent 1, but not Carrion Crown 6. When I went and checked my emails I realised that Carrion Crown 6 had shipped on the same day but in a separate package, not sure why but I’m guessing it was to optimise postage costs.

So the problem now a day later is that Carrion Crown 6 has not arrived. I’m not too worried yet, as it’s only just been the twenty days, but my packages do normally come well within that limit, and as the two packages shipped on the same day I would expect they would arrive on the same day.

How long should I leave it before I push the panic button?

Thanks guys, have a good weekend.

Hi Guys,

This beginner box looks pretty cool (and I really commend Paizo for doing it), but I have no real need for it at the moment, and the postage is killer – it looks as if the postage cost will be about 1.5 times the cost of the product.

As such I’d like to cancel my RPG subscription for the moment, thanks.

I just purchased a gift certificate, intending it for another paizo.com customer. I was expecting that at some point during checkout there would be an option for me to put in a message and send the certificate to another account, but if there was I completely missed it ... so I now have a gift certificate, apparently from myself and for myself, in my account and I’m not sure how to get it to the person it was meant to be for. The intended recipient DOES have a paizo.com account, I just didn’t notice an option during checkout to send it or credit it to them (or type a message).

Please help?

Hey PMG, I don't know how new it is, but I like what happens now when you hover over an alias of someone who's main avatar(s) is (are) also aliases (aliai?)

Hope that makes some sense.

Hi Paizonians.

I’m looking for a good dungeon adventure (from Dungeon magazine) from the 3.5 era (preferably, although I could go 3.0). Ideally it should be a smallish or compact dungeon that can be completed in one session – either a whole adventure or a dungeon that forms one site of an adventure.

Somewhere in the 8th to 11th level range.

Bonus points if it is a remnant of an ancient civilisation and/or features ‘unusual’ monsters – aberrations, outsiders and constructs are all good.

Can anyone recommend anything like that?

Hi Paizonians.

I’m looking for a good dungeon from a Pathfinder product, preferably lifted out of the Adventure Paths. Ideally it should be a smallish or compact dungeon that can be completed in one session. Rules can be 3.5 or PFRPG.

Somewhere in the 8th to 11th level range.

Bonus points if it is a remnant of an ancient civilisation and/or features ‘unusual’ monsters – aberrations, outsiders and constructs are all good.

Can anyone recommend anything like that?

I made a post that included a spoiler in one thread – Ith’s PFS pbp

When I look at the post (either in preview or final version) I see the post as it is supposed to look; a small line of text, then several paragraphs of text which is hidden by a spoiler until the button is clicked on. However, one of the other players in this play by post game could apparently see the ‘spoilered’ text without clicking on the spoiler button.

I tried deleted the post and re-posting it from where I had originally typed it up in Word – same result (looked fine to me, the other player could see the spoilered text).

Post was made using a PFS character alias. It was typed in Word then copy / pasted into the thread as is my habit. I am using Internet Explorer 8.

I have deleted the post as it contained information that is not meant to be read by other players in the game (we are playing a PFS scenario and the spoilered info is to do with a faction mission). However, I will repost exactly as it appeared in the post below this one.

This is weird ...

Probably NSFW.

I’d watch it with the sound off, unless you are a fan of Lady Gaga. The song is pretty awful (IMO) but the video is freakywrong, especially the first three minutes or so. Oh and one of Sebastian’s stablemates makes a very left field cameo.

If a druid casts faerie fire in an area where there is an invisible creature ... and the creature is outlined by the glow as per the spell description ... and then, on its next turn the creature moves outside of the area that the spell was cast (the five foot radius) ... does it remain outlined by the faerie fire for the duration of the spell?

I assume that the answer is yes, and that is how I have ruled it in the past, but I’m not certain.

I’ve got a plot idea for a PF game involving some fey. I’m wondering if anyone can point me towards some type of low CR evil fey that utilise illusions (spells, spell-like abilities or supernatural abilities). Preferably something that has been statted up somewhere for PF, or in a 3.5 or OGL source failing that. I am drawing a bit of a mental blank.

Also, anyone know if rusalka have been statted up anywhere in a PF or OGL source? I think they were in one of the 3.5 D&D books, was it Frostburn? Don’t think I have ready access to that one though.

Introduction to the Campaign

''Visit beautiful Korvosa! They said. Join the guard. Raise your family. Be happy. What a laugh…

Under the kind rule of King Eordred the Second, Korvosa is actually seeing… happy days for once. The city is beautiful, truth be told, as it seems every tower, street corner, and building proudly bears Korvosa’s coat of arms, portraying the city's Cheliaxian heritage boldly.

The spires of the Academae glint in the sun’s glow, signaling that sunset is only a couple of hours away, while Castle Korvosa stands powerfully in the distance, towering above all else in the grand city.

Citadel Volshyenek, the Korvosan Guard’s fortress stands as a beacon of defense alongside the winding Jeggare river which widens in many places to seem more like a pristine lake then the river it is.

High above you, a pair of Sable Company marines proudly borne on the backs of hippogriffs soar through the sky to the excitement of children down below.

A quick walk through any of Korvosa’s marketplaces brings yet another rush of activity, despite the fact that sunset’s completion lies only an hour or so away.

A large gnomish band can be seen across the crowd in a raised pavilion playing jaunty tunes that whirl around your ears while a mixture of exotic smells overwhelm you, of spiced krenshar meat sizzling on a bed of hot coals, deep-fried guttersnipe shish-kabob, and warm gnomish goldspeck ale.

The sights, the sounds, the smells, all drown you in revelry.

True, and beautiful Korvosa.

But not all in Korvosa is beautiful. And you, of all people, know this. The city harbors evil in its alleyways, and death in its shadows. This city… harbors Gaedren Lamm. The man who destroyed your life.

Gaedren Lamm, hunchbacked thieving snake, plague on Korvosa’s forgotten children, and all around despicable wretch, is of apparently no concern to the Korvosan Guard, much too busy with other 'more important matters.' They have assured you of course that they are doing the best they can, but in such a large city, it’s easy for one man to get lost in the shuffle. It’s easy for Gaedren Lamm to roam free.

Some of you have been born here, while others have just been in Korvosa for the last few months. But one thing binds you together. And it begins with a simple card.''

Ok, so I know the chemosit is based on the real world cryptid of the same name, but the description, picture and ‘alternate’ name (Ape-Bear) had me thinking of that old ‘classic’ the Gorilla-Bear!

Who said Paizo doesn’t like Deadline Monsters?

Does this mean we might yet see the Starfishpanda raise its loveable mutant head in Jade Regent?

More seriously, I am enjoying the monsters (old and new, including the chemosit) in this AP so far.

... on the Wikipedia front page.

The original module that is.

Just thought I'd share the love.

I’ve noticed recently that a lot of people seem to be making double posts (the same post shows up twice). Today this problem has struck me – all the posts I’ve made in the last few hours* have taken an unusually long time to post (at least several minutes). When they do show up, the same post shows up twice, time stamped from a few seconds to a few minutes apart. If I try to delete one of the posts it doesn’t seem to let me.

Just thought you guys might want to know about this if you weren’t aware.

*except this one apparently.

Hi guys, I received my notification email that this order would be shipping soon about two weeks back, I noticed that the order is still pending. Are there any problems with it? I’m assuming something is caught up in customs or otherwise delayed prior to getting to Paizo, but if there is any problem at my end, please let me know.

I’m hoping this order is charged to my card soon, before the Aussie dollar starts falling against the US dollar again! For the last couple of weeks the exchange rate has been great!

Has anyone seen this story? LINK

An evangelical church in Florida is holding an event to publically burn a copy (multiple copies?) of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11.

How can anyone think that this is a good idea?

I can emphatically understand people being traumatised, saddened, angered etc at the events of that day and those responsible. I can understand people transferring that anger from those directly responsible to all Islamic extremists.

But how does burning a Koran help anyone or serve any good purpose? How does this even send a warning like the guy in the article seems to claim? Why do people on both sides want to keep passions and hatreds enflamed?

Also, to be pedantic, if this is happening in one church in Florida, can the guy really call it International Burn a Koran Day?

Anyway, I am not looking for comments expressing hatred to anyone (please do not post such), I just wanted to vent and express my disbelief and sadness at human stupidity and hatred.

Whoa ... that's heavy.

Yay!

Whohoo!

So we know that at least a few of the River Kings and rulers have spies in each other’s cities, and most PC Kingdoms are going to have a Spymaster. Has anyone got any rules or thoughts on how to go about letting the players plant spies in foreign cities, what advantage having such spies might give them, and how to judge whether spies discover any useful information, whether they get caught etc.? Conversely, how can the players go about trying to root out any foreign spies that might infiltrate their own kingdom?

Should this sort of stuff be handwaved, or handled very abstractly as GM fiat? Should there be some sort of random table or dice roll to determine success of spies? Should the PCs be paying gold or BPs to maintain spies in foreign kingdoms, or should any costs be simply part of Kingdom upkeep (assuming you have a spymaster)?

Anyone seen this yet? Any good? Or are the Losers the B-Team?

Anyone else having issues with Paizo.com at the moment? I'm getting really slow loading pages, occasional 'messageboards not available' messages, dots keep disappearing etc.

EDIT: and the moment I post this thread it seems to all be back to normal ...

By the RAW, do wearable Wondrous Items (boots, robes, cloaks, belts etc) come sized to fit a particular creature size (eg, small, medium, large etc), or do they re-size to fit – one size fits all?

For example, if one were to loot a magic robe from a dead derro, could a medium sized character wear it?

Great stuff!

Some great artists we have here. Congrats to the winner and runners up!

I'd be happy to see more comps like this.

Wow, Order 1389990 only shipped a week ago, and I got it today – awesome! Should I thank Paizo or the postal service? (Well, thanks either way!) It even beat my regular subscription order, which shipped a week earlier.

I normally select the standard mail service, which says it takes 12-20 days in transit (and its normally closer to 20 days than 12); did I inadvertently select a different mailing preference for this order, or was there something else I did differently that would have caused it to ship so much more quickly than my usual subscription order (so that I can do it again)?

Over the past few months, whenever I go to download a file from ‘My Downloads’, all the files seem to have the message ‘Contacting Personalizer. Check back in a minute.’

Typically its some 5 or 10 minutes before checking back seems to do anything, and then, when the ‘Personalize this file’ link is finally available, and I click on it … it goes back to ‘Contacting Personalizer. Check back in a minute.’ Cycle repeats, sometimes several times before I can finally personalize and download.

I do not think I am trying to download at particularly high traffic times (but maybe I am?), for example I rarely try to download something as soon as it has been released (for me its usually at least a couple of weeks later).

Is there anything that I or Paizo can do to speed up this process? Thanks in advance.