Urath DM's page

Thank you for freeing up the scenarios.
As for the AP PDFs, good to know. :) I generally use the single-file versions, but I have collected the various chapter-files.

Looking back, scenarios 9-14, 9-15, 9-16, and 9-17 were also not processed.
9-14 and 9-15 suddenly processed a few minutes ago.

Hello,

While I have a subscription to Pathfinder Society Scenarios, 10-14 and 10-15 have been skipped. I have received 10-12, 10-13, 10-16, and 10-17.

Secondly, my last two Adventure Path subscription items (The Tyrant's Grasp 1 and 2) have only one file each; usually, there are two files, one for single file and one for separate chapters. Has this changed?

To expand on Adjoint's answer a little..

The City Watch is based in the Arvensoar, and patrols the major streets while also manning the walls.

The Churches of Abadar, Calistria, and Erastil provide patrols as well. Those from the Church of Abadar patrol the Summit areas (like Naos) while those from the Churches of Calistria and Erastil patrol the Shore districts.

Most other "protection" patrols are private and would only concern themselves with their employer's goods and property. The exception to that is the Order of Nail, who act to force order on the city.

In Naos, the most likely candidates are the Church of Abadar, then the City Watch, and finally the Order of the Nail. So a patrol from the Church of Abadar would report to the clergy, and ultimately Proctor Jyronn Imikar. A patrol from the City Watch would be as Adjoint laid out. The Order of the Nail would be reporting to Paralictor Darean Halst, the local deputy, as the head of the Order is based in Citadel Vraid near Korvosa.

IIRC, the Wrath of the Righteous Player's Guide also has some information about redemption. (I'm AFB at the moment, so I can't check right away.)

It does. It looks to be identical to the one in the Player Companion, so this would be a free version to obtain.

One wrinkle to keep in mind... just because the players want to redeem someone doesn't mean it will work (ever). The target ALSO has to want to change.. and if that important foundation isn't there, redemption is not possible.

Thanks! I'll take a look at the Wayfinder you mentioned. Yes, the website is obviously a transplant of the Cinderlands to Eberron, but it just looks like a DM's page for his campaign so I doubt there's too many copyright issues involved. I was, however, rather disappointed to learn that pretty significant content was cut from the hardcover. I thought I was getting the "deluxe" version of the AP. What else was stripped out of the hardcover version?

I just noticed that the Wayfinder content "Ruling Rannick" is actually adjacent to the Cinderlands, more or less, so that article on using the Exploration and Kingdom rules may be even more help than I thought.

As for the Hardcover, it is a compiled, updated, and in some areas expanded version of the Adventure Path. The Pathfinder volumes are like a magazine, with an adventure + support articles. Part of the goal is so that even if someone does not like the adventure itself, subscribers can still get articles that expand on the world in some way.

All of the necessary pieces are included in the Appendices. The ones that are not there were mostly not directly related to the AP (the Cinderlands and the articles on Varisian and Shoanti daily life) were nice-to-have items in the originals ... not required, but useful if the GM wanted to expand on those areas.

Also, I found the following DM's page with a really helpful compilation of info.

Some of that looks like it was cut-and-pasted from the support article on the Cinderlands from the AP. As such, it may be subject to complaints.

Other parts look like that GM modified the content to fit his/her own game, set in another world than Golarion, so you may not find all of the content explained.

Wayfinder #7 (a free fanzine here on Paizo.com) has content expanding on the materials of the first APs. A lot of it is Rise of the Runelords, but there are a few bits for the other APs as well. In addition, one of the Runelords pieces does what I suggested.. overlays the exploration rules on an area of the AP. So that might give you an idea of what it would be like.

FWIW, the Player Companion "Champions of Purity" has a 2-page write-up of the mechanics for Redemption, with explanations for why it is what it is.

Also, the Player Companion "Bastards of Golarion", while mostly about Half-Elves and Half-Orcs, has content applicable to Planetouched and others. The background "The Celebrity" is pretty much Nualia's story... and I think that even the unnamed Aasimar female in the artwork is her. Your players may find some things to work with it in.

As Cpt_kirstov notes, most of the material on the Cinderlands is in the support article in the original History of Ashes volume, and not re-printed in the hardcover compilation of the AP.

Something you may want to consider is to overlay a grid of 12-mile hexes on the map, and treat the overland journey as exploration (using the rules in Ultimate Campaign or Ultimate Wilderness; I think I prefer the simpler rules in UC over UW, personally).

September was a long time ago in gamer-years. :) This is probably too late, but for anyone with a similar issue and looking for advice.. here goes:

Is the player in question someone more used to computer RPGs? If so, he may be meta-gaming the "speed of plot". Encounters are written so that the PCs arrive at just the right moment, no matter how long that takes. That gives CRPG players (and some tabletop players as well) the feeling that as long as they don't reach the encounter, it will be "frozen in time" and waiting for them when they get there.

I view the Adventure sites and Encounters as "how things are until the PCs interact in some way". That interaction can be indirect.. for example, if there is supposed to be (or it can be assumed there is) communication between sites (messengers going back and forth, for example), once the PCs alert the first site, any others that communicate with it will find out.

So "once the ant-hill has been kicked over" (in other words, any site or connected group of sites have been interacted with), logical/reasonable consequences should apply. Keep in mind how sharp the minds of the enemies are, though (Goblins won't have elaborate responses, but someone smarter leading them will).

So, all that being said, it is up to you when Karzoug appears.

If Karzoug is able to leave the Eye of Avarice, that's "Karzoug Wins" in most ways, and his plans move forward as in "What if Karzoug Wins?".

If you feel like you have given sufficient hints that time was running out, then there is nothing wrong with calling that "Karzoug Wins because the other team failed to show".

That they are teleporting back to "safety" suggests to me that they are also teleporting FROM safety TO their last successful encounter, or something like that. Maybe next time, they should pop up in a camp of giants investigating the situation. Or they may find that there are now wave after wave of refugees seeking to occupy their "safe havens"... Riddleport has fallen to the giants so that Karzoug can reclaim the Cyphergate is one scenario. Although, keep in mind that, as written, Karzoug suddenly becomes less of a problem than the OTHER things that are released when he is.

I think it would basically be Neutral, as it is self-defense. However, if the PCs deliberately try to deal only non-lethal damage to the children in order to free them, then I might count that as a Good action (going above and beyond the necessary defense in order to achieve the best result for all involved).

If they're coming up short on XP or loot, random encounters can fill those gaps.

Although I cautioned against forcing them to go where you expect/want, there's nothing wrong with dropping a hint if they're undecided.

As long as you're all having fun, though, there isn't much need to worry about meeting every possible encounter.

The issue may be one of perception.

The early books focus on Sandpoint and Magnimar, and the PCs can take time to travel around and meet people. As the campaign advances, the stat blocks take up more and more space, so it is harder for the AP to include role-play scenarios. Also, as the AP progresses, there have been more and more chances for specific NPCs to have their role in the campaign to change (die, become an enemy, become a cohort, etc.), so the writers can't assume they will be available for a specific role-play purpose.

What I mean is, most of the later role-play can't as easily be prepared by the writers ahead of time. So it will be up to you and the players to create role-play opportunities. The opportunities are there, in my opinion, just not called out as Events or Quests like they were in earlier chapters.

Also, while there is a need for dramatic tension, I think people forget to add downtime - and that downtime is when the PCs can travel back to friendly places and role-play interactions with NPCs.

If some of the party want to go back, and some don't, then they need to come to a consensus on that before you worry too much about giving them an excuse/reason.

If they want to sneak back in, for example, you have nothing to worry about.

If some refuse to go back without an order, that may be good role-playing.

But the main thing is, they get to decide. If they can't decide, you don't need to force their hand. They may miss out on a clue or two, and some XP, but there is no need to make them go back. In one game I ran, my players entirely skipped going to Habe's at all and moved straight on to other clues (though I suspect there was more than a bit of meta-gaming involved).

Regarding the Tieflings, the Paladin may harbor some in-character bigotry about them, but Tieflings are no more inherently Evil than Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Halflings, etc. are... or than Aasimars are automatically Good. Suspecting them may be a minor character flaw that can become a theme for the Paladin's growth in role-play. Asking them why they're there can give a response like "We're here because it's an out-of-the-way place where we don't have to deal every day with people assuming we're up to no good because of our heritage."

I don't think there's anything yet that you need to beat yourself up over. If anything, you need to watch out not to force the PCs into the choices you want them to make. It doesn't seem like you've done that yet, but your post makes it sound like you're ready to.

Did you give the PCs knowledge checks to identify the Tieflings? That may color their responses later if they know more clearly that they're not "half-demons".

The Necromancer is not going to be happy letting them go if they know there's necromancy going on there. He would want the PC intruders silenced.

Threatening to go to Hemlock or Deverin about the intruders is something of a Bluff attempt (because the caster and Habe do not want Hemlock or Deverin to know about the caster), and the PCs get Sense Motive checks to oppose the Bluff.

It is not clear how the situation unfolded (if the PCs are in the middle of interrogating someone, why is the barbarian in a different place {if that's the case} and not with them)?

Do the players NOT want to go back for some reason? That's not clear. You said they want to, so are you looking for suggestions to justify their return (like the written orders from Hemlock)?

It is not necessary that they go back.. they don't have to complete every area to succeed. So they are certainly within their rights to call this one "done" (although Habe and his backer may have other ideas; as I said, they don't want news getting around, especially to authorities).

Your job as GM isn't to force them to do things. Your job as GM is to apply the effects of their decisions... good or bad... and let them react to the new situation.

I received my subscription shipping notice for Return of the Runelords part 5, but only one entry was added to My Downloads, the single-file download. No one-file-per-chapter download was added.

Answers!

About Jabyl Sorn
** spoiler omitted **

First, thanks very much for the answers.

Second, regarding Sabyl/Jabyl.
Honestly, I always assumed she was Vudrani because of the Irori worship and being a monk.

In the past, someone mentioned they were glad to see ethnicity added to the snippet stats (alignment, gender, race/ethnicity, class, and level) because ethnic tension can be a major part of the Chelaxian/Varisian or Chelaxian/Shoanti situation in Varisia. That's something I wish there had been time and space to include here. It is something I can make an educated guess at from the languages the NPC speaks, but not always accurate. Some can be "reverse-engineered" from other information (Belor Hemlock and Garridan Viskalai, for example), but those are only a few.

Is there a reason why ** spoiler omitted **

Found my answer with a little more reading.

A couple of things I noticed and wondered about...

Is there are reason why Sabyl Sorn has become Jabyl Sorn (multiple references, so it doesn't seem like a typo)?

Is there a reason why

By the way, I love having the street addresses of the shops and such. It is a nice touch I noticed in the updated Curse of the Crimson Throne as well. It makes naming the streets and roads more meaningful, as well.

In the Player Companion line, there's "Quests & Campaigns", which adds Inner Sea-specific content. Nothing for mostly-foreign races, though, like Kitsune (from the Dragon Empires region)

A puzzling one (to me, anyway)... the Holy Days entries in the deity stat blocks give the Earth months name instead of the Golarion month names for various holy days... although those entries exist with their "proper" month names in previous products, making me wonder how the errors occurred at all.

Most people that have a problem seem to have one of three major issues with the AP. Firstly, some people seem to feel the first two books are a bait and switch, presenting a permanent homebase to the players, and then shoving them out of the nest to be murder hobos.

Presentation helps a lot here, and GMs who are more open with their players (such as telling them they won't be staying in Riddleport for long) probably have an easier time on this point.

"to be murder hobos" may be how some GMs do it, but other GMs may be sending them out to visit Crying Leaf at Kwava's request ... hardly "murder hobos". From then on, the AP sort-of expects the PCs to be heroes, donating their time and effort for the greater good (note that the Elves are sometimes disappointed in them if they require [excessive] payment).

The other big sticking point is book 4...when the characters are essentially physically transformed (via magic) into Drow, to allow infiltration of a Drow city. All cool, right? Only, the characters now have to act as Drow, to avoid detection. Hope you don't have any Paladins along for the ride.

Paizo has been criticized in the past for the APs being "unfriendly to Paladins". I think the main issue is that some of the Paizo developers' idea of a "moral challenge" is a "fall/fall scenario" in the eyes of old-school Paladin players.

Lastly, apparently, the main people the players are helping can come across as arrogant and not worth saving. I didn't hit this myself, YMMV.

Yeah, it isn't guaranteed to happen... but I can see how it would.

For more about these, see my thread on my changes to the AP.

Listening to the audio version these weren't even there. Am I missing something here?

Maybe a bit late, but one thing to point out is that the audio drama is an alternative dramatization of the story... it is not meant to be a guide to how it plays out in-game.

On page 118 of the hard cover, there is a 'Temple Under Alert' section that ** spoiler omitted **, is this a mistake?

I don't see any answers on this one. There is a discrepancy between what "The Temple Under Alert" says changes, and what the non-Alert staffing is in the Guard Post (G2).

I’m always amazed at the reception these get.

Trade and caravans? That sounds fun...

Oh, I am soooo in for Trade and Caravans. I have some notions for my own use, but I'd love to see a fully fleshed-out take.

Speculation:

Now I've got this vision of running the AP in a way in which some of the Drow actually get the impression that they have a decent chance to pull this off, and try to entice others into refraining from interfering with their dirty work (if not actually joining them).

I remember seeing a post on the Second Darkness forums about a group doing pretty much that...

With regard to 2nd edition PF... yeah, that may put Kingmaker into a better position to be "next". Just remember that there is no guarantee that there even *be* a "next".

Urath DM wrote:

Because, sadly, the character that the AP established (or, more accurately, reinforced) is wrong. They're not supposed to be anywhere near as offensive as they come across in the AP (partially because, I suspect, you only see the offenders in the AP, not the 90% of the race that is supposed to be nicer).

I still don't quite understand how people can find those elves in general offensive unless the GM fails fairly spectacularly on communicating "the nice ones want your help and appreciate it, there are a handful of political extremists who don't and one of those turns out to be the villain." Particularly when you've got Shalelu and Kwava to make the first impression, and when the ones who try to assassinate them in Kyonin directly identify themselves as a splinter group by shouting “Death to all who would doubt the Winter Council!”

So.. here's how I see the issue...

If the GM doesn't play up the cruelty of the Drow, especially in Endless Night, they can easily come off as "nicer" than the surface Elves. "They may be genocidal, but they were nice to us" is how it can come off, "while the surface Elves may be a "benevolent" race but they treat us like crap".

Since many GMs play APs because they don't have time to write their own material, that means many GMs will be playing the AP with only the scripted encounters. So it becomes very easy for the Elves to come across as jerks... which appears to be what has happened.

Part of the solution is for the GM to provide some other encounters to present the Elves in a better light... but the GMs who don't have time won't be doing that.

Color me a bit baffled as to how the elves can be out of character in the AP that established their character.

Because, sadly, the character that the AP established (or, more accurately, reinforced) is wrong. They're not supposed to be anywhere near as offensive as they come across in the AP (partially because, I suspect, you only see the offenders in the AP, not the 90% of the race that is supposed to be nicer).

There's also this to consider:

Multiple Attacks: A character who can make more than one attack per round must use the full-attack action (see Full-Round Actions) in order to get more than one attack.

Full Attack

If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough (see Base Attack Bonus in Classes), because you fight with two weapons or a double weapon, or for some special reason, you must use a full-round action to get your additional attacks. You do not need to specify the targets of your attacks ahead of time. You can see how the earlier attacks turn out before assigning the later ones.

The only movement you can take during a full attack is a 5-foot step. You may take the step before, after, or between your attacks.

So.. if he's burrowing "up" and then taking multiple attacks in the same round, that seems fishy also.

Two other thoughts..

If you are used to PFS, some of the experienced players may be expecting to play differently than PFS (such as a pre-Unchained Summoner). If you are more comfortably sticking with PFS' guidelines for characters, you should announce that BEFORE people show up with a finished character that doesn't fit.

Second, you should consider how backgrounds mesh. In the original Rise of the Runelords, all of the PCs were presumed to be new to Sandpoint. In the Anniversary Edition, there was at least one campaign trait that made the PC a native of Sandpoint. A mixed party of natives and non-natives made it harder for me... having to sort out what "Player A" would already know vs. needing to tell the same to "Player B", and so on. Details like that can make it easier on you presenting the information, if everyone is in the same boat.

Edit: Also, I'd just love to finally see campaign traits for SD. The original version had only three different traits, so even if you play with four players in your group (and my groups are usually larger), at least one trait would be taken twice.

The Player Companion for Second Darkness was the first one not free, and only available for sale. It has 6 such traits.

1. Fools for Friends
2. Into Enemy Territory
3. Looking for Work
4. Optimistic Gambler
5. Researching the Blot
6. Scouting for Fiends

The Varisia: Birthplace of Legends player companion also added some new Campaign Traits for each of the older campaigns.. for Second Darkness, they were:

1. Daring Doomsayer
2. Fixer of Odds
3. Portentous Perception.

The main thing I would recommend is to keep to what you feel comfortable adjudicating. If you are not familiar with a new-ish book, and don't feel like you have the extra time available to learn it... then don't allow it.

Second, the older the AP, the more new material is going to overwhelm it. For example, Rise of the Runelords was revised after the Advanced Players Guide was published. It originally had no content from that book, but some was added in the revision. It has no content from later books like Occult Adventures or Horror Adventures. If you want to spend the time to make new content or modify existing content so you can use elements from those books, that's fine.. but no monster or NPC in that Adventure Path is going to be a "natural opponent" for a PC using content from those books. While the books are intended to be balanced (and, theoretically, a PC of any class should be fine), it may not work out so smoothly in practice.

When it comes to thematic exclusions, be sure to be clear to your players about WHY something is excluded. If a player has his/her heart set on a specific concept but it is a bad match, you will be better off denying it at the start, even if you can't come out and say "if you play that, you will become one of the enemies by the time we reach part 2".

Since you have players with a mix of experience, there is no harm in trying to keep it simple and use the minimum number of books that you are familiar with.

There are 2-3 older threads talking about the same issues. Over and over again. Basically:

• Second Darkness:
  Pros: 3.5 era rules; important setting lore content; chance to correct persistent bad presentation of elves in setting
  Cons: Too much work required - significantly more than previous compilations; copies of all volumes sitting in warehouse taking up space - not indicative of a strong seller.

• Legacy of Fire:
  Pros: 3.5 era rules; Katapesh is largely untouched since release and could use an update.
  Cons: Some volumes still in warehouse - not indicative of a strong seller.

• Kingmaker:
  Pros: Volumes are sold out, making it likely a solid seller
  Cons: Does not need to be updated as much because it is already using the Pathfinder rules.
  

That's pretty much the same position that each of those other threads reached (as I recall them, anyway). From the beginning, Curse of the Crimson Throne was seen as the likely second such compilation. The threads then focused on what was likely to be the third such book (if any were to be done). Since then, there are two factors that MAY influence overall position: 1) Legacy of Fire volumes have slowly continued to become unavailable and 2) there is a Kingmaker CRPG coming.

The only thing I am fairly sure of is that, unless there is someone strongly championing Second Darkness within Paizo, it will be the last candidate in the list precisely because it so much NEEDS the attention - and Paizo probably cannot afford to give it the attention it needs.

Paizo will only do a compilation book if they feel 1) it will sell enough to be profitable and 2) that they have the resources available to work on it.

pauljathome wrote:

Zhayne wrote:

Really, talking to animals is barely useful.

I disagree with that. Talking to animals should be fun and should often yield SOME information. Not "The mystery is solved" levels but enough to advance the plot and be worth the spell. Not always, of course, but often.

That's how I, at least, feel I do it. Maybe less 'fun' in the gits-and-shiggles kind of way and more in the 'watching Moe try to get useful information out of Curly' kind of way, but still.

I've seen a lot of GMs portray a random wolf walking through the woods like Mr. Peabody ("Two orcs, both male, one six-three, one six-six. The taller one had a limp and the shorter one had two gold pieces in his shirt pocket.") which never struck me as right.

In my case, I've gotten grief from my players for playing animals as animals, and NOT giving them 'the mystery is solved' levels.

----------------

Animals may know 'alone', 'small herd', and 'large herd' concepts, but not counts and such; and how they explain a race would depend on how they interact with that race. An unfamiliar race might be "other type of 2-legs", while a familiar one might be "swarm of green hunters" (goblins) or something like that.

Asking about particular objects would likely just confuse an animal. At that point, the oft-used anime line "Is it tasty?" for something unknown actually makes perfect sense. "Butter churn? What's that? Is it tasty?" asked the badger in response?

Also, the translated tone of the animal could be used, too. Badgers are noted for being bad-tempered, so playing that up in its responses can help add a little flavor. Conversely, a rabbit always ready to bolt can give a different feel.

Shouldn't Arnando Rolf be wielding a rapier as a warpriest of Cayden?

Sorry to be so long in responding. I do intend to post more in this thread soon.

Arnando is described as "a bear of a man who is rarely seen without a notched sword swinging at his hip", a visual cue that he is more about Strength than Dexterity. His original class listing is Fighter/Cleric. The Warpriest conversion makes sense in terms of class abilities efficiency, but story-wise may not. If he is a "former fighter turned cleric", then maybe Fighter/Cleric makes more sense than Warpriest (though with retraining rules, I can see someone re-training class changes into hybrid class levels).

Given his appearance, I think his stats are more likely to be oriented toward Strength than Dexterity, so a longsword seems more appropriate to me than a rapier, even as a Warpriest. I haven't run a numerical comparison - this is just based on the character's "flavor". Anyone who disagrees is free to make the change to rapier, of course, since my conversion is just my take/opinion in the first place.

Balancing the NPCs is a delicate act sometimes. The APs are intended to appeal as much to the casual and new gamers as they are to the experienced and dedicated ones. Too much optimization of the NPCs and monsters can make the whole too hard for some, so I think that is to avoided. That was also a factor in choosing Arnando's weapon, for me. Of course, with his stats set for Strength, maybe the Rapier is less optimized choice for him.

I've always had a problem personally with the Ioun Torch concept.

Take a small LED camping lantern. Attach it to a string from your ceiling in a dark room (or mount it on a spinning bike wheel on a metal rod if you are so mechanically inclined).

Turn it on and start it spinning in a circle.

Try to do ANYTHING like read or perform a hands-on craft for more than 5 minutes in this messed-up strobe light environment. :)

When I raised my "campaign continuity" concerns regarding Ioun Torches with my players, they just insisted I was out to kill their fun.

The Ioun Torch is a nice, flavorful idea in concept, but when you look at the details, it starts to break down.

Something to keep in mind, too, is that advances in technology spur responding changes in society.

Magic that is reliable and commonly available is a technology. As long as anyone can use it regardless of any inborn talent, it is a technology. As such, if it becomes common, it will cause changes in society as it is adopted. Mass availability of permanent lighting, for example, ushers in the 24-hour workday, which can lead to labor unrest and the "invention" of 3-shifts and other labor standards.

Likewise, the mass availability of magic devices that perform mundane or unpleasant tasks would have the same effects as automation today: putting large numbers of workers in those jobs out of work.

As a result, I would assume that any setting that is "mostly Medieval" (ignoring or downplaying the general filth and misery of the true period) mostly does not have enough such "magical technology" in common use -- otherwise, it would be more prominent and obvious.

Looking at previous D&D editions is not necessarily helpful, too.

2nd Edition, where some of the wildest commoner-magic-items showed up, was influenced by more of a focus on the world setting... moving BEYOND the dungeons that had been the main focus of prior editions. The BECMI D&D setting of Glantri was also a different rule set with a different expectation (and mechanism) for crafting.

D&D 3.x included an XP cost in the crafting of items... in addition to not being profitable in a money sense, Crafting as a business was detrimental to the growth of the caster. So crafters with no way of replenishing their XP (non-adventurers, in other words), would soon be unable to craft more items.

Consider the following:

Calistria's Kindness is a cheap alchemical version of "the pill". There's more than likely other cheap quality of life products that exist on Golarion, even without magic item creation.

I believe there's also a "bachelor's friend", an alchemical male contraceptive pill, in one of the books.

This is a topic that doesn't really fit into "what adventurers need on a regular basis" -- some groups would prefer to gloss over such details, while others may worry about the internal consistency of the setting and want to see them answered, but even then adventurers on the move are not going to be able to avail themselves of whatever might be available in the town. So the focus of most supplements is on the adventuring gear.

That said, Goody White's Book of Folk Magic (from Sean K Reynolds Game) contains a number of PFRPG tools for, well, folk magic.. like easing childbirth, raising or lowering fertility, and so on.

Other books that have touched on this include:

The Witch's Handbook (Green Ronin, D&D 3.0): alchemical goods for avoiding pregnancy and enhancing hair growth, as well as a couple of spells that may be applicable. Note: The Crafter's Fortune and Crafter's Curse in the APG are, I thinkm based on similar spells by the same author (Steve Kenson) in this book.

Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy (Troll Lord Games, D&D 3.0 + Lejendary Adventures: This is a book focused on the details of the settings, and includes an eclectic mix of various details. Lists of titles, for example, and (my favorite) a series of "day in the life of a __________" illustrating what the daily life of a merchant, or various other professions, is like (wakes at x:00, opens the business at y:00, first meal of the day at z:00, etc.). In addition, there is a small section looking at some spells of "practical magic" (animate toy, accurate tally, frigid zone, and more).

The game rules are vague on the topic of what information to give out, and do not exactly state anything.

My Go-To reference for this is the Monster Focus line of focus booklets from Minotaur Games (Jason Bulmahn's personal line of products). While I don't always agree with the exact results, it gives a good example of how at least one developer views the use of the skill (each has a table of Knowledge roll results for the monster in the booklet).

Based on that, I can summarize them as:

• No game-term stats (no "it has low Hit Dice" or "It has Resistance 10 to acid"); you get in-character information like "It isn't very tough" or "acid doesn't work well against it".
  
• You do not get to ask questions; you get the results moving from most obvious to less obvious the better your roll.
  

For my own use, I have structured the responses as such:

• On the exact DC: Name, type, sub-type (if recognizable visibly), obvious simple templates, environment, organization.
  
• DC+5: The primary attack form (claws, bite, etc.) such as "the claws can rip you apart"
  
• DC+10: A weakness, such as "they burn easily"
  
• DC+15: Another physical attack form, if any, or something a survivor would report, such as "The claws are poisonous!"
  
• DC+20: Another weakness or special quality, such as "They have no minds so illusions and similar won't have any effect!" for the Mindless quality.
  
• Between these "tiers", on +2 or +3 over the previous result (such as DC+7 or DC+13) I scatter any additional "lore" entries about the creation or in-world history of the creature.
  

Naturally, because the specifics are left to the GM, others may take a different approach.

Thank you, Sharaya, cancellation is the way to go.

At this point, I would expect to only be interested in re-starting if there were a digital-only option.

Hello,

I need to suspend/cancel several of my subscriptions.

Please suspend:

Pathfinder Battles
Pathfinder Player Companion
Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Pathfinder Comics
Pathfinder Maps
Pathfinder Modules
Pathfinder Pawns
Pathfinder Cards (in case the line is reactivated in the future)

That should leave only the Pathfinder Role Playing Game, Pathfinder Adventure Path, Pathfinder Society Scenarios, and Pathfinder Legends subscriptions active.

At this time, I do not have the space for more physical books and such. A purely digital option would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Is there a reason why Paizo wouldn't use spoiler warnings for players (like many other RPGs do)?

There is a warning, though people skipping the Introduction won't see it.

In addition, several of the organizations presented in this book were first introduced in the context of Pathfinder Adventure Path campaigns. Care has been taken in the following pages to avoid too many spoilers for these Adventure Paths, but in all cases, the organization is presented with the assumption that the events of the Adventure Path in which it was introduced have already come to pass, and that the PCs of that Adventure Path were victorious.

The list in Undead Revisited covers up to what was in the Bestiaries at the time (Bestiary 3, I think).

The Advanced Bestiary (from Green Ronin, updated for Pathfinder recently) has a number of "Dread" versions of other undead (Dread Wraith, Dread Zombie, etc.). It also includes template-like directions for creating "standard" versions of the same undead (in some cases). How these would fit with PC spellcasters is not described.

Danged typos... that's "higher than the HD".
Sorry.

So an 11th level caster can make a Juju Zombie of 10 HD or less.

Juju Zombies are among the creatures listed in Undead Revisited. There, it indicates Create Undead is used. The Caster Level required is at least 11th level, and must also be higher than GD of the Undead to be created. In addition, either enervation or energy drain is required as part of the process.

I suppose more detail is needed.

If the question is, for example "Can I cast animate dead on the corpse of an Advanced animal to get an Advanced Skeleton or Zombie version out of it?"

that might be different than

"Can I cast animate dead on a dead animal and choose to apply the Advanced template?"

Then "what about Create Undead or i]Create Greater Undead[/i]?"

I think the details may matter based on which scenario.

The spells animate dead, create undead, and create greater undead account for methods by which spellcasters can create a wide range of undead creatures—but the options granted by these spells are limited. With the GM’s permission, these can be adjusted to allow for the creation of additional types of undead. Doing so requires additional material components and spells (additional spells are cast as part of the casting time of the undead creation spell, but do not extend that spell’s casting time).

Note that some undead can never be created by create undead or create greater undead. The methods by which these undead can be created are given in their specific monster write-ups. In the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and Bestiary 2, such undead include the following: ghost, lich, nightshade (all), poltergeist, ravener, revenant, skaveling, vampire, void zombie, and winterwight.

The following table summarizes what spells, minimum caster levels, and additional material components are needed to create other undead with animate dead, create undead, or create greater undead.

The table accompanying that bit of text does not include any additional templates beyond the monsters themselves.

Masterwork armor reduces the armor check penalty. It can only be masterwork "once" (i.e., you can't make "masterwork masterwork chain mail", just "masterwork chain mail"

A special material can alter the armor's hit points (its own, for defense against sundering), hardness, and weight at a cost.

Enhancement Bonuses only add to the Armor Bonus of the Armor, or the Shield Bonus of a Shield. Like weapons, enhancement bonuses on armor can only go up to +5 -- but you can add other powers that are priced as if they were enhancements up to a total of +10 (combined Enhancement and non-Enhancement abilities, and at least a +1 Enhancement is required before you can add anything else). Other abilities that are priced as gold only can be added as much as you can afford.

I think the "irredeemable Drow" issue is a conflation of two things. If I recall correctly, what has been said not to be do-able is a reverse transformation of a Drow into a "regular" Elf, which is significantly different.

Also, as noted, the content here is meant to the Post-Second Darkness situation (or at least one way that could be; differences are likely among the various groups that played it out). What was said about there being no Good Drow was summarized in the Introduction of Shadow in the Sky.. essentially, 'a key point of this AP is to reveal that Drow exist, and for them to the bad guys at this time.. so let them be the bad guys for now'.

There are mentions of a few trade routes in Inner Sea World Guide.

Aside from that, individual Campaign Setting guides may mention imports or exports, but it is not information that I have seen mentioned consistently.

The Pathfinder Wiki notes the Imports and Exports where they have been mentioned (though I am not sure how up to date that information is).

Overland trade routes are better covered (though even that is not much), such as the Path of Agabhei (sp?) connecting Varisia to Tian-Xia over the Crown of the World (prominent in Jade Regent), and there is mention of a cross-Casmaron trade route terminating in Qadira, if I recall correctly.

Honestly, the details are probably left to the individual GM to define as needed. The very abstract nature of trade in the Caravan Rules from Jade Regent, and the equally abstract Kingdom-level Trade Routes in Ultimate Campaign, make the details unnecessary (mostly).

Re: 1
The secondary licenses (you get 1 and can add more) are for the same user to be able to use it on multiple machines. The presumption is that a different person needs a different license.

Re: 2
Whatever data packages you purchase are available to all your licensed machines. Some 3rd party data packages may require a separate download and installation, but anything purchased from Lone Wolf is part of the same download - the license unlocks the purchased content.

Note:
The AP packages, and everything else for that matter, do NOT contain story information (generally) -- just monsters and NPC stat-blocks, classes, magic items, and other mechanical stuff. In some cases, there may be spoilers in the backgrounds (and, more so, the TACTICS) entries of the creatures... but generally, story/events is more what Realm Works is for.

Your best bet, though, is to ask on the Lone Wold forums. It may be a few days (especially with Paizo Con this weekend) before someone from there could answer here.

Lone Wolf web site