So, Raynulf's amazing Council of Thieves Thesis has really inspired me both to give running this AP a shot and to really really work on expanding Westcrown as a setting. The descriptions of Westcrown in the books are vague enough that everyone probably has their own version of the city, which I frankly think is a great thing for an AP where the city itself should really be a major character. I'd love to see what ideas other people have had for livening up the city - NPCs, locations, organizations, all that good stuff.
To begin with, I'll share a few of my own ideas:
The Cult of Aroden:
The worship of Aroden has never entirely faded from the city that once stood poised to become his seat of power on the material plane, though his priesthood grows smaller and more eccentric with each passing generation. Those who continue to call themselves priests of the Last Azlanti fervently believe, even after a century of silence, that their god is merely testing them, and that those who keep the faith will be greatly rewarded in the coming Age of Glory. They point to the unstained visage of the Aroddennama and other such “miracles” as evidence of their beliefs, which they proclaim them loudly to any who will listen.
Having abandoned their former finery, members of the cult of Aroden wear the hair-shirts of penitents as they preach from street corners and in those few crumbling shrines from which they haven’t yet been evicted. Such preaches must watch their worlds carefully - those Arodenites who dared to openly blaspheme against Asmodeus were made examples of long ago, and the current generation hasn't forgotten the horrific spectacle of their deaths. These days they dedicate most of their time to community service, tending monuments and public buildings and clearing refuse from the streets in a losing battle to preserve the city’s glory for their god’s long-awaited return.
The Wiscrani church of Iomedae takes pity these confused souls, though only truly desperate Arodenites are willing to accept their charity. Followers of Asmodeus consider them amusing and disgusting in equal measure, and mock them mercilessly. It's not uncommon to see a drunken scion of one of the city's more diabolically-inclined noble families beating one of the zealots in the street. For the most part other Wiscrani do their best to ignore the dwindling cult, though the dottari have been known to step in and arrest particularly zealous Arodenite preachers for "disturbing the peace."
The Cult of Aroden (notes):
The remaining worshipers of Aroden are mentioned in passing in The Bastards of Erebus, but I've expanded them here to really make them a part of Westcrown's bleak atmosphere. I envision them as essentially the Golarion version of the stereotypical apocalyptic street preacher, filthy, unkempt, and wild-eyed as they urge passers-by to repent in the name of their dead god.
Prinn's Scriptorium:
One of the few businesses in the Rego Scripa to have remained in operation since before the Civil War, Prinn’s Scriptorium is a combination library, copyist’s shop, and bookstore.
For a nominal fee, patrons may peruse a large collection of books both commonplace and rare, and for an additional payment may commission a copy of any text in the collection or for which they can provide an original.
The proprietor of the Scriptorium, a partiucularly curmudgeonly forlorn elf of indeterminate age known only as Prinn (LG middle-aged male elf wizard 6), is a traditionalist who insists on producing all of his copies by hand without the aid of magic or machinery. He is well known for his immaculate penmanship, however, and makes a respectable side income as a calligrapher taking commissions from well-to do patrons in the Spera.
As a wizard, Prinn also possesses an extensive collection of arcane spells which he makes available for customers to copy at the standard rates, and also sells a selection of low-level scrolls. He’s known to pay well for any spells he hasn’t seen before, though most wizards are hard-pressed to show him anything new.
Unbeknownst to most, Prinn maintains a personal collection of books he considers to valuable or dangerous for general consumption, but which he may show to particularly trusted customers.
Prinn's Scriptorium (notes):
I envision Prinn's scriptorium both as a colorful place to buy scrolls and add new spells to a spellbook, and as tiny piece of "Old Westcrown" lovingly preserved by its long-lived proprietor. Though an elf, Prinn is a lifelong Wiscrani who has witnessed the entirety of his home's century-long decline, which has affected him more deeply than he generally lets on. He could easily become an ally of the PCs as they work to improve things in the city, and might act as source of useful information if they manage to miss some crucial clue.
So, it's a tiny part of the adventure (only mentioned in one rumor as far as I know), but for some reason I got inspired to come up with a plot outline for Shensen's cancelled opera, Huntress of Heroes, complete with song ideas! You'll find that the half-elven luminary has taken some creative liberties with the source material, but the general framework of the legend remains the same. I don't honesty know that much about opera, but let me know what you think!
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Huntress of Heroes
A dramma giocoso in two acts
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance):
Violeta, a beautiful and gentle Varisian wanderer and the priestess Dionarra’s most avid admirer, her sweetness and innocence make her death at the climax of Act I the tragic highlight of the show.
Matei, a Sczarni bravo who initially appears as a farcical caricature of the superstitious and untrustworthy Varisian, he unexpectedly emerges as the hero of the opera's second act.
Velkan, a young Varisian boy.
Aolar, the titular Huntress of Heroes, portrayed as an almost farcically villainous but nevertheless horrifying figure.
Dionarra, a saintly priestess of Desna beloved by all of the Varisian wanderers.
Desna, goddess of dreams, the stars, and travelers.
Abadar, Calistria, Sarenrae, and Shelyn, other deities
Chorus, representing various heroes and captive souls
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Act 1
Scene 1:
Next to her brightly painted wagon, Violeta sings about the many hardships of a wanderer's life, but that she is nevertheless filled with joy and hope because her caravan is watched over by the famous Dionarra ("How can these sore feet go on"). As she finishes, the roguish Matei arrives to scold her for praising the priestess so, for while they all love her, they do not wish to draw the attention of Aolar, the huntress of heroes ("shut your mouth and make a fig").
Even as Matei sings, however, Aolar makes her appearance, enchanted to appear blurred and diaphanous (showing that it is only her mind that is present). She observes for part of the song, after which the boy Velkan runs to tell Violeta and Matei that Dionarra has returned to the caravan after being away on a solitary pilgrimage, and all of the mortal characters rush off stage. Aolar then delivers a song in which she describes her evil deeds (taking exaggerated pride in them),but declares that taking Dionarra's body will be her greatest achievement yet ("what a lovely new toy").
Scene 2:
The scene begins with Dionarra singing a song of praise to Desna as she walks along a path, which becomes a duet sung between her and the goddess Desna, who appears gliding through the air above the stage ("The night is long, but the stars are bright").
After the song finishes, Desna fades away, and Violeta, Matei, and Velkan arrive to greet Dionarra. As they do, however, screams are heard from offstage, and Dionarra declares that there is a nearby village that must be in need of aid.
Violeta and Matei beg Dionarra not to go, with Violeta fearing for her safety and Matei reinforcing her concerns with outlandish tales of dangerous beasts said to live in the area ("what nightmares lurk in those shadowed hills"). Dionarra replies that it is her duty as a priestess of Desna to combat such monstrosities, although she does offer that, if he is so concerned, the though she does ask Matei, who so often boasts of his prowess, if he would be willing to accompany her. Matei demures with exaggerated cowardice, and Dionarra sets off alone.
Scene 3:
Dionarra arrives at the village and does battle with illusions of terrible monsters, fighting to save the fleeing villagers. The scene is embellished with magical effects and features a duet between Diona and Aolar, where it becomes clear that
the demon lord has engineered this attack ("what fell power has cursed this land"). The scene ends with the death of Dionarra when she heroically interposes herself between a horrible hook-clawed beast and a cowering child, and Aolar gleefully congratulates herself on her victory ("the fool comes gladly into my domain").
Scene 4:
As Violeta and Matei await Diona’s return, the latter attempts awkwardly to court the young lady, who is naively oblivious to his attempts ("there's a cold wind blowing from the mountains tonight"). Thus thwarted, Matei changes tactics, and tries to impress Violeta with boasting, but as a gentle soul she finds his supposed achievements abhorrent. In the end Matei confesses tearfully that he made most of it up ("What can a poor boy do"), and his sudden vulnerability touches Voleta, who places a hand on his shoulder as the scene ends.
Scene 5:
Aolar returns to the caravan in the body of Dionarra (courtesy of a disguise self spell), while Dionarra's disembodied soul is forced to look on. Dionarra sings a lament in which Desna once more appears to join her in a duet ("would that I could warn them"). Velkan rushes to greet her, and Aolar keeps up the charade of being Dionarra long enough for Violeta to return ("come, gentle boy").
As the young woman arrives, Aolar murders Velkan right before her eyes, and Violeta is so horrified that she is unable to defend herself when the demon turns on her. Just as Aolar delivers the killing blow, however, Matei arrives and rushes to her aid, stabbing the possessed priestess in the back. This forces Aolar to flee Violeta's body, but she carries off her soul along with that of Dionarra.
Matei then takes Violeta in his arms, and as she dies he confesses his love to her in song, while she tries to console him to go on ("hold on to me, dear flower"). As she falls lifeless in his hands, Matei calls upon Desna to take vengeance for her fallen priestess.
Act 2
Scene 1:
Aolar gloats in her castle in the Abyss, joined by a chorus of damned souls ("I bid you welcome, dear guests"), but the spirits of Dionarra and Violeta still defy her. The priestess’ spirit counters her boasting, and then fortells than the enemies she has
made through her evil deeds shall soon come to call, and not a stone of
her castle will remain standing ("no storm can rage forever").
Scene 2:
In "the heavens," Desna speaks with other deities, including Calistria, Shelyn, and Sarenrae. She demands retribution for the wrongs done to her followers, and the other goddesses lament that they too suffer from the terrible evils of the demon lord ("do the angels have no fury"). However, Abadar appears and declares that ancient pacts forbid the gods from taking direct action against a lord of the Abyss. In the end, Desna resolves to find truer allies in her home on the material plane ("what good is eternity"). Shelyn and Sarenrae are saddened by this, but Calistria remains aloof and enigmatic throughout the scene.
Scene 3:
We return to Matei, who is mourning before the graves of Dionarra and Violeta ("where shall I wander now"). Desna appears to him, and instructs him to gather righteous souls who have been wronged by Aolar in order to strike back against the demon lord ("hold tight your hope, oh sorrowful one"). He agrees, and the scene culminates in what is meant to be the musical high point of the piece, an impassioned plea by Matei for mortals, imperfect and powerless as they may be in the grand scheme of the cosmos, to make a stand against evil ("listen here, all you wretched ones").
Scene 4:
Desna, Matei, and their army of heroes march into the Abyss, and another effects-heavy scene begins as they do battle with demons. Desna exhorts her followers to take heart in the face of incredible odds, while Aolar heaps abuse on her faltering demonic foces ("fear not the rising of the tide"). The scene culminates in the goddess destroying the demon lord’s fortress and setting free the souls she had kept from their proper judgement ("and now at last all chain are broken").
Scene 5:
In the ruins of Aolar’s tower, Desna approaches the demon lord intending to end her, but Aolar reveals that she still holds the souls of Dionarra and Violeta prisoner, and threatens to devour them if the goddess strikes against her. Aolar launches into her climactic song in which she declares that compassion is a weakness and that evil will always triumph over good ("what should a goddess care"), but meanwhile Matei sneaks up and manages to free the bound souls. Aolar realizes this too late, and is slain by Desna.
Both the goddess and the spirit of Dionarra thank Matei for his intervention ("let angels' heads be bowed"), and he has one final goodbye duet with Violeta before she must go on to her final judgement ("I fear we were but strangers in the end"). In the end, Matei is left alone on stage, and sings a final song, in which he declares that while we cannot know with certainty what fate awaits us in the great beyond, the more important thing is that we strive to make a better world for ourselves while yet we live ("it is not for us to know").
Having altogether too much time on my hands, I've lately developed an interest in linguistics and constructed languages. Looking at the old Languages of Golarion thread, it appears that there are at least a few other folks around here who share that interest, and have some neat ideas about what the languages of the Pathfinder setting might be like.
I've been toying with some similar ideas of my own, so I figured I'd poke my head up and see if anybody would be interested in collaborating on something a little more in-depth. I think it could be a lot of fun and, if nothing else, it'd be a unique opportunity to geek out on two of my favorite topics (linguistics and fantasy setting lore) at the same time! :P
So, recently I was looking at a thread about things people don't like in the Pathfinder setting (because I'm a masochist and it pains me to see people criticize things that I like), and I noticed that a lot of people were comparing it (generally unfavorably) with Forgotten Realms.
Now, I'll freely admit that I don't have a whole lot of experience with Forgotten Realms; I had the 2e boxed set back in the day and I've familiarized myself with a lot of the fluff, but I've never really run or played in a campaign that used the setting (Neverwinter Nights I and II notwithstanding). That being said, I'm a sucker for setting lore, and I can and have bored people for hours talking about RPG settings for games I've never played.
And yet, every time I try to take another look at Forgotten Realms, my eyes just sort of glaze over. Somehow, nothing about the setting really grabs me. I feel like I can usually browse a campaign setting book or wiki and fairly quickly come up with a dozen different ideas for characters or adventures, but somehow I fail to find inspiration in Faerun.
Giving Ed Greenwood et al the benefit of the doubt, I have to assume that the problem lies with me and the resources I've been looking at. So please fans of Faerun, enlighten me on what makes the Forgotten Realms setting cool, interesting, and unique.
So, a little while ago there was a thread in which people were discussing what kind of goods are widely traded in the Inner Sea Region, and what the major imports and exports of each nation were. I've been doing a little research and a lot of conjecture...ing about this since then, and I've put together sort of a rough draft listing trade goods by nation, region, or settlement. I'd love to hear people's comments/suggestions; you should be able to view the file here.
For those of you who are interested, here are some quick notes on how I put together the list:
What countries are included and why?:
For practical reasons I only included countries located along the major trade routes mentioned in the Inner Sea World Guide, namely the North Track, the Obari Crossing, the Path of Aganhei (eastern and western routes), the Sellen Passage, the South Track, and the Varisian Run. Other trade routes certainly exist, and many are highly profitable (like the overland route between Cheliax and Druma), but I figure that focusing on the most important routes would give a decent overall picture of trade in the region as a whole.
What goods are included and why?:
A lot of this information is basses on more or less educated guesses, particularly the import lists and the exports listed for the more obscure countries on the list. I did my best to use common sense, and I avoided including goods that I couldn't find mentioned in print or on the wiki. It seems probable (at least to me) that countries like Cheliax and Taldor export a lot of cotton cloth, but there hasn't been a lot of discussion (that I've seen) about textiles in the Inner Sea Region, so I left them off.
What are the demand lists based on?:
In general, I assumed that countries would demand more or less every type of good that they don't themselves supply unless there was a good reason to believe that there wasn't a demand for it. For instance, some entities on the list (particularly the "colonial" settlements in Garund) don't seem to have a lot of local manufacturing, so I assumed that they wouldn't be significant importers of raw materials like lumber or base metals. In countries that don't have much of a wealthy upper class (Galt, the Kingdoms of the Mammoth Lords), I assumed they wouldn't demand much in the way of luxury goods, though things like precious metals and consumable "vices" (alcohol, drugs, coffee, etc) are probably in demand just about everywhere.
Kyonin is sort of a special case, since the elves don't seem all that interested in human luxuries or manufactured goods. Their imports are therefore restricted to raw materials they can use in their own crafts.
How are the goods classified?:
I've tried to group goods into fairly broad categories, with the exception of certain things that get mentioned a lot in print (like olive oil), or which are particularly unique or valuable (silk, skymetals, tobacco, etc).
Some Caveats:
If a country isn't listed as supplying a particular resource, or even if it is listed as demanding that resource, it doesn't necessarily mean that they can't produce the resource locally. Goods like alcohol, magic, and manufactured goods can be produced just about anywhere on the local scale. The list is meant to reflect that some nations are known for producing certain goods, and the merchants and aristocrats of other nations will go out of their way to import, say, Chelaxian wine or fine crafts from Absalom.
Likewise, even if a country is a net supplier of a good, it may import that good to some degree as well. Different parts of a large country won't have equal access to that country's resources, so miners living in the mountainous north of Cheliax might eat food mostly brought over the border from Nidal, for instance. Furthermore, people (or at least people with money) are always interested in the exotic, so glassware from Qadira might demand a high price in Magnimar even though there's a glassworks just up the road in Sandpoint.
Magic:
On the list, "magic" refers not only to magical items, but also to books and other products of magical scholarship, as well as goods created by spells, like everburning torches. In general, the only countries I've listed as suppliers of magic are those particularly known for being "magical", or that are home to particularly noteworthy centers of magical learning.
Manufactured Goods:
"Manufactured Goods" can be anything from weapons and tool to artwork and fashionable clothing, depending on the country. Countries listed as demanding manufactured goods don't have much local manufacturing at all, so they import just about everything that an untrained commoner couldn't make themselves.
Plunder:
"Plunder" refers to any number of different goods seized by force. I haven't listed any country as specifically demanding plunder, since it's such a diverse category, but I think it's still useful to include it on the list since looting and pillaging is such an important part of the economy in certain countries.
Whale:
"Whale" refers to both whale oil and ambergris.
Lake Encarthian Region:
The entry for the "Lake Encarthian Region" refers to all the nations that have ports on Lake Encarthian and are thereby connected to the Sellen Passage route.
Gods above, I just submitted my RPG Superstar Wondrous Item! On the second day of the submission period! And it was just over 100 words long! Weep for me, my fellows, for I am surely a fool and a madman! ;_;
So, I've got a Bard in Pathfinder Society who is fast approaching fourth level, and I've been thinking about what second level spells to take. Glitterdust would obviously be a strong choice, but based on my (admittedly limited) experience with subtier 4-5 adventures, I'm not sure I'm going to get much use out of it as a counter to invisibility. For that reason I'm strongly tempted by Pyrotechnics and it's absolutely amazing blinding effect.
Now, I'm not too worried about having a source of fire handy; in addition to the usual torches and campfires and so forth, I frequently adventure with an alchemist who likes to set people on fire with his Exploding Bombs. My bigger concern is that, with the huge area on the Fireworks effect, I'm just as likely to blind all of my allies with the spell as my enemies. After studying the spell, however, a thought occurred to me.
According to the text of the spell, anyone without line of sight to the fire I target with pyrotechnics is unaffected. As far as I can tell, that means that if I have a friendly arcane caster create a Silent Image of a wall or a screen or somesuch that blocks my allies' line of sight to the fire the alchemist made, I could then cast Pyrotechnics and only risk blinding myself. I have a wand of Silent Image that I can hand off for the duration of the scenario, and the Sorcerer could let the illusion drop on the following round and carry on as normal.
So, my question is, would this work, or would the light from the Pyrotechnics spell somehow negate the illusion's ability to block line of sight? Feel free to comment if you have an opinion as to whether or not you think the effect would be worth the two standard actions, or any suggestions for other ways I could use the spell that I might not have thought of.
Hey everybody! So, I've been working on coming up with a character for my friend's new Jade Regent campaign, and was perusing the forums here for inspiration. I happened upon the idea of creating a character focused on providing party support while disarming or tripping enemies with a whip, and I'm interested in trying to create a whip-focused Inquisitor of Calistria.
My problem is that I'm really not all that familiar with combat maneuvers... or with Inquisitors, for that matter. The idea appeals to me partly because I'd be trying something completely new, but I would really appreciate some advice on making this concept viable in-game. I'm obviously not looking for something super-optimized, I just want to have a character who won't become completely useless at some point.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any pointers you can offer!
