W E Ray's page

Escaping the Abyssal Layer of Abraxas my PCs have gone from the frying pan into the fire -- well, a very freezing fire -- as they've landed in the Layer of the Abyss belonging to Kostchtchie.

When they leave, they'll have a little more control over where they go next, though somewhere in The Abyss.

Right now they're having fun playing in the ice and snow, whooping up on Abyssal Frost Giants, Abyssal Ogres, and other Kostchtchie stuff.

But when they're ready to flee when things get too scary, we'll figure out where in The Abyss they're going next and I'll come back to to see what's available.

Of course, they may decide to go to the Layer of Lolth or Graz'zt or Fraz'Urb'Lu or Demogorgon or Orcus or, you know, some other that Paizo can't publish. (Good thing I have my old Dragon Magazine articles and 3E books!) But it'll be cool if they go with one that you've recently done / are doing.

I designed my current Homebrew Campaign to be Levels 1-10 in Varisia and 11-20 in The Abyss. At Level 13 we have now had many sessions on about six different Layers of The Abyss, and here is what I have been doing:

In addition to, or sometimes instead of, Abyssal Traits -- Each Layer of The Abyss has its own Turn in Initiative (I have it go one Initiative 1.) and I select Spells that I think 'The Abyss' would cast against the PCs. Maybe a list of 10 spells and when it's The Abyss' turn in Initiative I roll a d10 to see what The Abyss does to the PCs. (Maybe I pick 12 spells and roll randomly a d12, or 20 spells and a d20.)

For The Rasping Rifts, maybe stuff like Summon Swarm, and Summon Monster IX: Great Big Insect, and Insect Plague or whatever.

Anyway, my 2 CP

So you don't want the PCs to get extra wealth from the feats, but you do want them to have the ability to craft magic items because your campaign idea makes this a necessity? Instead of nerfing the feats while simultaneously pressuring a player to take them, you could just give them out for free in return for removing the gold discount aspect entirely.

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Yeah, I didn't even think of it this way.

On one hand, the Feats have never been allowed in my games. And I am absolutely not the only DM who disallows those Feats.

But I was just thinking through the early design of the upcoming Campaign: There isn't looking like there will be a place to buy gear until, I dunno, like, after 6th Level. And so I'm thinking, if that's true, how do I keep the PCs up to pace? And my immediate thought was Item Creation Feats. I'm not sold on any solution as of yeat -- and my current game is at 13th Level so we won't start the new Campaign until probably Jan-Feb of '25 so there's plenty of time for me to figure out what I need to figure out.

And advice is still very welcome from all over The Boards. Keep it coming!

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My snarky tone of voice will come out, however, Tottemas, as I reply that I am not at all nerfing the Feats; I'm sincerely trying to FIX the crap-bag design idiotically built that effectively ruined that aspect of the game. Any help from my fellow Lords of the Boards with the FIX is appreciated.
But I know, YMMV.

I would use the PathfinderWiki. (It's a bigger answer than can be put into posts on The Boards.) Each Season of PFS has its own page 'overview' on the PathfinderWiki giving a general summary of the Season as well as a list of the Scenarios.

You can do the same search on the PathfinderWiki for Adventure Paths; I would say they change the Campaign setting more than PFS.

Come back with some 'smaller' questions with answers that can be a bit more specific -- there's tons to give.

Thanks

your premise is false.

Blasphemy!

The wizard/caster has to trade a combat applicable (metamagic) feat for a crafting feat. With Scribe scroll and Heighten it will be #3 non-combat feat. My point is there's a real tradeoff that's being made.

This is really what I'm needing advice on. I know that in our games, and I think in most games, the Wizard is pretty much the most powerful PC by 9th/10th Level -- sometimes earlier. So my gut tells me that getting a couple Item Creation Feats in place of Empower Spell or Twin Spell or Gr. Spell Penetration or etc likely won't be too dramatic a weakness. The Wizard will still be able to blast to smithereens or Create Pit to-death my monsters even before the Barbarian or Archer murder-hobos my innocent little monsters. And trading that to allow the rest of the party get some equipment (Magic Items) that they want -- since the campaign I'm designing likely won't have many opportunities to take gold and gems and loot and sell it / trade it in a big city -- will be a fair trade off. But it's certainly concerning enough that I am looking for other opinions.

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anecdotally where there's been crafting the crafter has to miss out on some adventures as he's stuck crafting. Shoot, he's been yelled at by the other players for taking too much time but it's mostly done via email so "in-game" time isn't affected that much and the crafter may get the sessions first 2hrs as freetime while the others do their thing. In Game time is a price that has to be paid by someone or shared (so Retraining might be a good thing). Downtime, skills and crafting have to be important so non-magic item crafting people have something they WANT to do. I've never been in a game where there's enough time to craft whatever you want. A good time split is 50% self and 50% party items.

Wow, this is really big food for thought. Obviously, since I don't allow Crafting (beyond Scrolls & Potions) I've never run into these situations. I'm going to really need to look at the RAW for crafting times and think about the adventures I'm designing as part of the campaign and remember your words of advice here.

If you use the classic "buy at full, sell at half" then you've already deflated(as in economics) the value of crafting and WBL valuations are inherently inflated. Pricing should be tied to CHA and Prof skills in some way. ....

If you want to lower that 50% there are easy things to do. A) Add material cost of 10% which instantly makes it 60/40. B) Add professional skill discount of (Skill Bonus)% or in 5% chunks. This whacks valuations down and gives meaning to the skills. C) Price = (3%)*(10 -CHA)*BookPrice {simple but effective}. F){cause it deserves an "F"} XP cost was a pain in the a$$ so don't do that. Lastly you can move crafting magic items to $250gp/day, yes, that quadruples "time out" and scales better with mundane crafting.

More to crunch numbers on, THANKS!

I am one of the billions, or even trillions, of DMs who will not allow Magic-Item-Creation Feats beyond Scribe Scrolls & Brew Potions.

But in a few months when my current campaign ends and I start the next, well, the campaign I'm planning could probably benefit from PCs with the Magic-Item Creation Feats.

So I'm here for advice.

As you well know, the reason billions and trillions of us don't allow these Feats is firstly and most importantly, group treasure gets effectively doubled since the PCs just make it all at half price -- completely ruining the game. And secondly, not that the billions and trillions of us needed another reason, because the PCs want to stop the whole adventure and heroic plotline to sit in a room for a few weeks to make their Magic Items.

Here's what I'm thinking: Using an Item Creation Feat to create a Magic Item is 10% less than the full cost of the Magic Item rather than a 50% discount. Now the PCs can get their gear at 90% of cost which is not that terrible, I think.

Additionally, creation time will require only half the time dictated to by RAW.

What do y'all think?....
(Why do I get the feeling billions of DMs have been doing this for hundreds of years already?)

LOL -- and Szuriel is Gavrilo Princip waving his Nationalism Flag in the air: 'My country/ethnicity/religion is greater than yours!'
(It even *feels* Daemonic.)

Paizo does not have the budget to compete with Google Earth.

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I can not be the first person to have begged for this: Y'all should really hire Anna B Meyer! I would sell my soul for some Anna Meyer maps of Pathfinder locations

Paizo does not have the budget to compete with Google Earth.

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Blasphemer!

My 10 Points:

4 Points Scarwall Keep .... "Skeletons of Scarwall" .... Curse of the Crimson Throne

2 Points Renchurch (ruined Cathedral & Catacombs) .... "Shadows of Gallowspire" .... Carrion Crown

1 Point Briarstone Asylum .... "In Search of Sanity" .... Strange Aeons

1 Point The Lady's Light .... "Curse of the Lady's Light" .... Shattered Star

1 Point Hollow Mountain .... "It Came from Hollow Mountain" Return of the RuneLords

1 Point Harrowstone Prison .... "The Haunting of Harrowstone" .... Carrion Crown

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(I couldn't quite get 'The Crow,' 'Arkona Palace Dungeons,' 'Brinewall Keep,' or 'The Catacombs of Wrath' in here, but ah well.)

My compilation (above) of the votes in this Thread so far is not great; lots of us didn't really post in such a way as to really compile a list. And I didn't count the 'Favorite Post' tallies either.

But I'm really interested in this.

What if we posted Site-Based-Dungeons in Single Volume APs by Points:

4 Points maximum can only be awarded to ONE first choice
3 Points (optional)
2 Points (optional)
1 Point (optional) for a total of ONLY 10 points
(1 first, 1 second, 1 third, 1 fourth -- or 4 points for 1st choice and up to six 'Honorable Mentions' at 1 Point each -- or whatever combination fits for you. 10 Point limit and only one can get four points)

Then from time to time we can compile them.

Choose your Adventure Path "Great" Dungeon from a Single Volume, regardless of Pathfinder or PF2, with other choices earning fewer points.

Votes so far:

3 Scarwall Keep .... "Skeletons of Scarwall" .... Curse of the Crimson Throne

2 Briarstone Asylum .... "In Search of Sanity" .... Strange Aeons

2 Dungeons under Arkona Palace .... "Escape from Old Korvosa" .... Curse of the Crimson Throne

1 Akuvskaya Prison Camp .... "Rasputin Must Die" .... Reign of Winter

1 Asmodean Knot .... "The Sixfold Trial" .... Council of Thieves

1 Science Deck under the Divinity .... "Fires of Creation" .... Iron Gods

1 The Crow .... "Shards of Sin" .... Shattered Star

Wait, so does that mean the maps of various settlements like Magnimar, Korvosa, or Oppara do not exactly describe the settlements like Google Earth?...

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LOL

I don't know if I should be sharing your sarcastic laugh or feel uncomfortable that you thought the maps were real. My favorite obviously-bogus map is the one they made for Katapesh back in, like 2009. But even the Riddleport map from back in the day.

For me in my actual Gameplay, I just shrink the populations way, way down to realistic numbers.

Just going back over this Thread today has been really enjoyable. I know I said in my OP "Many Thanks in advance," but I wanted to say thanks again. This was fun to reread, all the ideas -- and to remember why I chose what I ended up choosing, those months ago.

Ultimately, the success or lack thereof will depend on the players and DM being on the same page regarding Purpose and the DM's level of enthusiasm for said AP.

So bye, bye, Ms American Pie / Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry.

Well, I'm glad it wasn't one of the ones I like.

How do Grognards find the river? (stream, creek, trickle?) Is it on the U-Toob internet? I think I finally learned how the U-Toob works.
Grognard = Me

6 more hours until Abadar dies
;)

Abadar only has about an hour left until he dies.

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What do you mean?

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Don't we find out in an hour that Abadar is dying?
(Or did I get the days mixed up?)

Abadar only has about an hour left until he dies.

Another thing I think we're missing in the current era of AP is that stories no longer actively try to change the setting. APs of the first edition very often had a fundamental influence on the setting in their consequences. The emergence of several new nations, a change of rulers, the Fifth Crusade, the emergence of new gods, and several others.

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I assume I am in the minority here, among customers -- but I really, really don't like how *often* Campaign-Setting-Evolutions occurred in the APs.

I can support major campaign setting evolution in the published material from time to time, but it seemed like every third (or so) AP back in the day was dramatically changing the setting.

When the Gold Box came out in 1983 we had a good decade to really play Greyhawk games. It wasn't until the early '90s when Carl Sargent designed the Greyhawk Wars that the Flanaess really changed. (And even then many Grognards didn't like it. But it had been a decade and 2nd Edition was introduced. It made sense to me -- and Sargent's work was brilliant like Paizo's usually is.)

The transition from the Forgotten Realms of Greenwood in the Dragon Magazine articles also got a major change from the 80s to the 90s, becoming the Bob Salvatore setting. And again, some players still played in Dale Reckoning before 1358.

But I can get behind making some big changes once a decade or so with an Edition change or something equally tremendous: Such as when Erik Mona, Holian and Reynolds did the LGG early in 3.0 or the FRCS came out a year or so later bumping DR to 1374 (or something).

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{ AP SPOILERS ahead: }

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But I felt uncomfortable with Paizo's 'frequent'(?) changes. Once The Worldwound closes it's no longer the same setting. There was still SOOO much that could have been done there. Moreso with Cheliax losing Ravounel, Taldor losing Stavian, Runelords successfully returning, etc. Once Ravounel is its own country, the campaign setting is no longer Cheliax. Or Varisia. Or the Worldwound. Or Taldor.

These things should ONLY happen when players have played enough in the setting that they're ready to change it. And for me, at least, it should be player-driven and not Publisher-driven. In other words, it should be 100% up to individual groups if A) They've played in Korvosa enough that they're ready to change it forever and King Eodred and Queen Ileosa are killed off, and B) The players play out the game and decide what Korvosa looks like now that it's not really Korvosa anymore:
(I can only use Shadows at Sundown as a resource for some additional info on a few locations or NPCs in Korvosa. Because Queen Ileosa was Resurrected, AND reinstated as Queen after the facts of her possession by Kazavon was made public AND Sorshen is a LE Runelord who is still asleep or (when I get to DM it eventually) waking up and 'The Players' will drive what happens to happen.)
(It's the same thing with the amazing volume 200! I can use it to add some details of NPCs and such in Sandpoint -- but I had a group several years ago kill off some Ghouls that were tunnelling around underneath the cemetery, digging underneath caskets for food and treasure. James Jacobs introduced that idea as a possible adventure hook in the Sandpoint book several years ago and we actually played it. So chapter 1 of the Amazing vol 200 is only usable for me as in introduces a cool Undead Goblin. But for my table, heck, Nualia is still alive! We haven't played nearly enough in Sandpoint to so drastically change the setting that there's no more Sandpoint Devil or Red Bishop! Once the Sandpoint Devil is destroyed, I would posit, it's not really Sandpoint anymore. The players really gotta be okay with that.)

Again, I think I'm in the minority, but I don't like campaign-setting-evolutions except very infrequently.

Reiterating 'Mysterious Stranger' -- he's mistaken about the official rule, but it's his game so he's right. You're Caster Level is 2 in his Hell's Vengeance campaign until he changes his mind (perhaps by realizing how bad a Houserule that is).

Neither would I place a bet on my choice, but my not-so-confident prediction is
Abadar

--The god of economics/money doesn't have a real purpose for the vast majority of PCs or BBEGs or mooks and, frankly, a campaign setting wherein such a deity dies makes it more fun, more apropos even, for PCs to be heroes as civilization or society takes a big hit. (See 'Aroden')
--The god of city/society doesn't really have mountains and mountains of canon the elimination of which would bother tons of customers, er, players. Whereas if they delete Iomedae or Sarenrae or Calistria or NoBooger or ToeRag or GroomGroom or Gozreh, well, a huge number of customers, er, players, will be bummed out.

So, months ago I predicted Asmodeus because it seemed like the specific D&D lore for him that Gygax started to develop (and later others wrote more on) might be a choice just to avoid intellectual property problems. And it wouldn't be hard for Paizo to promote some other Devil or something to take his place. They could even keep Asmodeus around a s a Ghost or something without deleting him completely. But alas, Paizo said they had made this decision Loooong before the latest (in an even Loooooonger list of) WotC poohpooh-head maneuvers.

Then, I changed it to Zon Kuthon only because Liane Merciel was commissioned to do the writing and so much of her work has dealt with -- including I *believe* her favorite work -- Nidal/Pangolais/The Midnight Lord. So I figured, okay: Dou Bral. But he's safe.

So: Abadar

I think that much of the 'as-intended' roleplay of Hells Rebels relies on the possibility of the PCs, um, getting caught(?). Maybe, like, the textbook example of when the Commune spell or the Locate Object spell effectively ruins the adventure -- and DMs have to plan ahead to think of inventive, out-of-the-box ways to circumvent potential problems with divination spells.

I will point out, admittedly, that I read your OP again just now and perhaps interpreted your intentions a little incorrectly. I missed the "Super Hero Team" purpose, which is never how I viewed the Vigilante Class (unlike my peers among gamers, I have zero background in comics).

I think that if you're going with the super hero / alter ego vibe, Agents of Edgewatch probably is ahead of the others.

Take a really close look, though, at SD and CoT. I don't know how tricky it would be for you to convert the two PF2 campaigns, but the really early APs, and obviously WftC, ought to seem quite doable.

(I wish I had time to grab those APs off the shelf for a quick perusal to give specifics -- but it's tax season and I have business obligations.)

We talked at length about exactly this, Gestalt/one-side-Vigilante with Council of Thieves. Of course, those discussions were years before 'Hells R-&-V' or WftC were published. At the time I was really hoping to play in a Gestalt, evil-PC, campaign of CoT. It never panned out, though.

Considering all the options for APs now, hmm,.... I actually think the best choice for this is Blood Lords! My second recommendation is Agents of Edgewatch and followed by the three older APs, Second Darkness, Council of Thieves and in fifth, War for the Crown.

When you look at actual gameplay (rather than what may 'sound' good), those are my five. The two Cheliax APs, Rebels & Vengeance, I think have many moments each where a Vigilante group may ruin the fun of the games' conceit. And the second half of CotCT just ain't made for the Vigilante.

What were the lands and people called prior to Soividia Ustav unifying the region in 2361 AR by driving out the Kellids?

He was born in the village of Ardis, which doesn't sound particularly Kellid or Sarkoran. Though a Varisian, his people would not have called the area north of Encarthan 'East-Varisia' or something like that. What was the name?

THANKS in advance everyone!

Are there any named people of Ustalav immediately after the final defeat of The Whispering Tyrant?

In any hidden crevice of a Setting book, or any barely visible footnote in an Adventure, anywhere in canon -- is there a named Ustalavic character who historically helped put the pieces of the Immortal Principality back together, and rebuilt Ustalav?

Many, many THANKS in advance, one way or another!

So, like, are you looking for--

"My Love is like an Ocean" -- and there's an ocean in The First World of Charm Monster water?

"The Moon is Made of Green Cheese" -- I don't know the folklore behind this old saying, but um, it works?

You'll want to be a little more descriptive on what your group likes: urban intrigue, wilderness exploration, murderhobo dungeoncrawl -- low level, mid level, high level -- Absalom, Varisia, Taldor, etc.

I mean, I can tell you that *my* personal favorites are "Realm of the Fellnight Queen," "The Moonscar" and "The Midnight Mirror" -- and that I have gotten tons of setting material and usage out of "House on Hook St," "The Godsmouth Heresy," and "Feast of Ravenmoor." But that's not really helpful, I don't think.

The best pure dungeoncrawl is probably "Tomb of the Iron Medusa." The best urban adventure is one from the 3.5 era of Paizo, "Gallery of Evil" in Absalom. (And of those 3.5 I really like "Tower of the Last Baron.")

But again, you may be looking for something much different. What do y'all like?

I can't answer for this Thread but an older (similar???) Thread of mine can always use some more input from The Boards.

Neolandus Kalepopolus? (if the PCs were really interested in the adventure of rescuing him from Glorio Arkona / Red Mantis)

Trinia Sabor? (if the PCs were really interested in the adventure of helping her escape Old Korvosa)

A survivor of House Carowyn? (if the PCs were really interested in the adventure of killing zombies at House Carowyn)

Deyanira Mirukova? (if the PCs were really interested in the adventure of tracking down the fate of Ruan Mirukova)

Sabina Merrin? (if the PCs didn't kill the fallen Fighter / Ileosa-lover / Black Dragon-rider, and she is still alive and turned back to Good)

Samp? (if the PCs were really interested in the adventure of helping a good-guy WereRat)

Tepest Geezelbottle? (if the PCs liked the old Gnome / Scholar at Theumanexis)

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And of course any old PCs who are now NPCs -- perhaps one is now an NPC Magistrate, or Captain in the Korvosan Guard / Commander in the Sable Company, or the new Castle Korvosa ArchWizard.
.... Or an NPC from one of the original PC's back-story -- like if the group healer was a Cleric of Shelyn who was taught by a 'famous Korvosa opera singer', or the group Monk was trained by an 'underground master of The-Five-Finger-Death-Punch' -- then that NPC could all the sudden show up.

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Or if any of the non-CotCT NPCs that stood out from the Korvosa Guide -- such as the nice owner of The Posh and Turtle or someone else.

One more week and we'll be sharing in the fun!

Yes, but y'all remember in the early-to-mid 90's when every issue of Dungeon had an adventure from Chris Perkins and everyone wrote complaint letters to the Editor (Perkins of course) saying he was stealing the best adventure proposals and publishing them as his own work?!? .... Good Days.

Deities and Demigods is the D&D book from my early childhood that dramatically inspired and influenced my whole life -- not just my gaming life.

It was my first childhood introduction to mythology, culture and folklore; it was one of my earliest introductions to world geography in a sense.

It remains one of four books from my early childhood that I still reference and peruse (albeit nowadays for gaming rather than mythology, culture or folklore).

Thank You James Ward for writing the D&D book from my childhood that so significantly cast me on a Lifelong path of interest in not just D&D (now called 'Pathfinder'), but Humanities as a whole.

Drawmij is now hoping to roll a nat 20 in The Upper planes!

In last night's session in my current campaign the PCs have just *accidentally* (long story) Plane Shifted to a random Layer of the Abyss and they happened to roll for the Layer of Abraxas. Not kidding. Perfect timing. So, because they are going to have combat and some roleplay in Abraxas' Layer of the Abyss next session, and you just finished your work on Abraxas -- holy moly.

We finished the game session with my telling them they had randomly rolled (again: Loooong, complicated, convoluted story) to Mount Empyrean at the bottom of the Celestial Heavens with Angels & the Righteous, and I began describing the illusory paradise that Abraxas shows visitors to His Layer of the Abyss:
The Ranger saw a beauteous, pastoral glade with archery contests and dogs frolicking around them (her Animal Companion is a Roderic-Ridgeback form Roderic's Cove in Varisia.)
The Oracle who is searching for Aroden found a still-active Temple to Aroden.
The Wizard found a Library with Spellbooks of Divine Spells he could transcribe into his spellbook as Arcane Spells even though they're on the 'Cleric' list.
The Paladin of Ragathiel saw an arena where Paladins and Angels could fight captured Fiends, not for sport or gambling, but practice and such.
(The Slayer had to miss last night's session so, whatever.)

They allowed themselves to be separated.

Next Friday we begin!

And so I have a good week to get all kinds of Abraxas stuff ready. Long story short: THANK YOU! Your Abraxas entry is exactly what I need!

(double post)

It can be grossly difficult to find ways to incorporate individual PC goals and ambitions into a published adventure -- the more specific the player made his or her PC's ambitions, and the more linear an adventure is, can make it downright impossible in some situations.

But you answered it perfectly in your OP: Since Adventure One and Adventure Two don't feel like they're furthering the overall AoW plotline for you, it makes these opening adventures the Perfect place to get all the player-driven stuff accomplished, while building up to the AoW overall campaign plot.

(And you're right, especially in long (high word-count) published adventures, you really gotta read everything BEFORE play.)

But here's a couple more spots you may find useful for future PC-driven elements where you can read ahead and see whether they potentially fit, in addition to changing the little-boy Ghost to some other Ghost that fits with a PC:
1) "Zenith Trajectory" takes place in the Underdark in a Kua Toa city -- that's a good location to put some Dwarven-needed alchemical-fungus if the Worms are ruining Greysmere.

2) "The Prince of Redhand" waaaay near the end of AoW includes a gala-party where a ton of NPC-interaction and Fluff can take place. You can read up on Alhaster and some of the NPCs in the party and see if there will be an opportunity there to have included some of the Twilight Monastery and Diamond Lake politics in Alhaster. (I'm not sure where the Monk PC is trying to go with this background, but, maybe Alhaster...?)

3) "The Spire of Long Shadows" is a good place to get more Fluff on Kyuss and you may find a place in or around that adventure to include the mystery of the Elf's missing spouse/lover.

4) Lost Artifact of St Cuthbert you can put anywhere -- in any treasure pile in any of the later adventures (when finding an Artifact is more Level-appropriate). Pick one (such as the Dragon Ilthane) and then find a couple places throughout the adventure, even in a moment of ad-lib that jumps out at you, to give a hint the Artifact is in (for example) a nearby Dragon's lair.

It can be grossly difficult to find ways to incorporate individual PC goals and ambitions into a published adventure -- the more specific the player made his or her PC's ambitions, and the more linear an adventure is, can make it downright impossible in some situations.

But you answered it perfectly in your OP: Since Adventure One and Adventure Two don't feel like they're furthering the overall AoW plotline for you, it makes these opening adventures the Perfect place to get all the player-driven stuff accomplished, while building up to the AoW overall campaign plot.

(And you're right, especially in long (high word-count) published adventures, you really gotta read everything BEFORE play.)

But here's a couple more spots you may find useful for future PC-driven elements where you can read ahead and see whether they potentially fit, in addition to changing the little-boy Ghost to some other Ghost that fits with a PC:
1) "Zenith Trajectory" takes place in the Underdark in a Kua Toa city -- that's a good location to put some Dwarven-needed alchemical-fungus if the Worms are ruining Greysmere.

2) "The Prince of Redhand" waaaay near the end of AoW includes a gala-party where a ton of NPC-interaction and Fluff can take place. You can read up on Alhaster and some of the NPCs in the party and see if there will be an opportunity there to have included some of the Twilight Monastery and Diamond Lake politics in Alhaster. (I'm not sure where the Monk PC is trying to go with this background, but, maybe Alhaster...?)

3) "The Spire of Long Shadows" is a good place to get more Fluff on Kyuss and you may find a place in or around that adventure to include the mystery of the Elf's missing spouse/lover.

4) Lost Artifact of St Cuthbert you can put anywhere -- in any treasure pile in any of the later adventures (when finding an Artifact is more Level-appropriate). Pick one (such as the Dragon Ilthane) and then find a couple places throughout the adventure, even in a moment of ad-lib that jumps out at you, to give a hint the Artifact is in (for example) a nearby Dragon's lair.

I don't do much in the way of Crunch theory or application; I'm a Flavor guy. So I'm not really looking at stat-blocks, but I became interested in this Thread four weeks ago when I posted -- and I check in periodically to see which Demon Lords you have stat-blocks for. It's potentially an invaluable Thread for me in the future -- when I need to consider Crunch for Jezelda, Yhidothrus, Shivaska, and whomever comes next. In time, I could see this Thread becoming very heavily referenced by the Community, once there are a dozen or more stat-blocks up everyone can use (at the very least as inspiration).

So,.... Keep 'em coming!

My theory is exactly along the lines of Kobold Catgirl -- especially considering the following

There are so many fun adventures from this era of Dungeon. For me "Seventh Arm" was more of an inspiration for a new Marilith BBEG and a cool 'nickname' for the Marilith's top General. And I didn't really use the adventure, just Penvahsta the Marilith (spelling?) and her General, "The 7th Arm" for some other campaign.

Happy gaming!

Sorry I couldn't get here through the weekend, and for the week. I'm still here, just really busy followed by really tired. Hopefully the 2nd half of the week will give me time to read the Gameplay I've missed and contribute.

Bot me as needed.

The blacksmith, Das Korvut, has dogs (that he loves more than people) and in gameplay over the years he's become more and more of a dog-breeder than a blacksmith -- just cuz my players have focused on that rather than a blacksmith. I've kinda needed him to become where NPC Rangers or Hunters get a Red Mastiff Companion way more than I've needed him to make them a sword or breastplate.

And, since in my games Sandpoint has been for more Low-Level play rather than Mid- or High- Level play -- and since Brinestump Marsh and throughout the Sandpoint Hinterlands Goblins are so predominately in the canon -- I've DMed quite a few 'Goblin-BBEG' encounters and such in order to Level-Up the PCs so they can move on to Magnimar or Riddleport or wherever the campaign goes after 1st-3rd Levels.

(And no matter how much of an ornery butthead I make Das Korvut, the Rangers and Hunters and Druids, even some Fighter PCs, just seem to like him and make friends with his Red Mastiffs.)

Kelseus' post is as perfect an answer as it gets -- I and many others could copy/paste that answer for you to reread.

....Then we can add: The Messageboards here are also a tremendous resource. Players and DMs come here for advice, ideas, trouble-shooting and rules clarifications in a very friendly and open environment. There are Threads in Forums dedicated to The Beginner Box, and "Troubles in Otari" and pretty much every product that Paizo has published. You can easily find discussions about how this or that gaming group handled this or that tricky encounter as you need or want to.

Finally, the Paizo staff, freelance authors, and the Brand executives/directors are on The Boards every day answering questions and giving insight on the Paizo products (like, you can ask an in-depth question about a random NPC in the village of Sandpoint (for example), and the Paizo Creative Director who invented Sandpoint and that random NPC will often answer your question himself).

Especially if your players are not familiar with the bells and whistles of 'Mythic' powers from the Mythic book -- go through that and give your Demon Lords Mythic abilities. And Hero Points, again, especially if your Players don't have them. (If your group knows Mythic really well and is used to using Hero Points then it will have much less impact in your game when all the sudden a Demon Lord uses a power that's RAW that the player doesn't know.)

Also, Third-Party-Publisher stuff has all kinds of crazy-poor design intended to be really powerful. Google a CR 40 monster from a 3PP and look at some of its broken abilities to see if any of them can be used to make Shivaska, Nurgal or Jezelda even more unique.

. . . .

And depending on the layout of your campaign, you may consider really detailing these Layers of The Abyss. Making the battlefield truly unique by giving it dynamics and abilities of its own -- even giving the Layer of The Abyss its own spot in Initiative -- can really fire up the differences between PCs fighting monsters in a 30x30 room in a standard dungeon crawl.

Not really deity "lore" but rather 'dogma' or 'ritual' -- it's from one of the Pathfinder novels (I can't remember for sure but I *think* Prince of Wolves) -- there is a religious ceremony of Pharasma that really just richly encapsulates her followers:

A narrow line of priests of Pharasma, wearing only robes, somberly walk each with a lit candle toward a calm pool of water. One by one the procession of disciples step into the pool and continue a slow stride until the calm waters rise to waist, chest, and above their head, extinguishing the candles one by one. Then, at the end of the pool, the first priest's head emerges as he continues to walk out, then his chest and his upheld candle reemerge, then his waist, and he exits the pool. And his candle reignites, bestowing its small light, as the other holy people of Pharasma exit the pool behind him, in line, with their candles also reigniting one by one.

The crafting of the literature is well done, the poetic artistry. But it's the symbolism of the birth and death and circle of life, even an interpretation of the 'water' of the mother's womb, and the peaceful beauty of the ritual.

Whatever, I really enjoyed reading that paragraph from whichever Pathfinder novel it was. And since details from the 'Pathfinder Tales' line are a little more obscure, I thought this would be a good Thread to throw it out there as my favorite bit of "Deity Lore."

Just keep encouraging everyone to never support any WotC product or service ever again. A massive number of us have been doing this in our gaming groups and Local Gaming Stores for well over a decade (some even since 1999). Keep explaining to other gamers and interested gamers what kind of company WotC is and encourage them to take a look at Paizo instead.

Yeah, for me it's 100% Scarwall Keep from CotCT. I really don't see any others coming close.

Some of the published NPCs have just enough Flavor background to whet the appetite of DMs using Sandpoint and her hinterlands. Is any more background given for some of the old NPCs that we have used in our previous games? Can you mention a couple who *do* have a little more design?

For example, in two of my campaigns, different players running different PCs have both been really interested in furthering a rapport with Das Korvut, a pretty grumpy, ornery NPC. But they liked his dogs. I've roleplayed some dialogue with Das Korvut here and there over the years, mostly downtime and such, but a little more background on such an NPC could really help.

For me, I've always wanted a bit more on the Four Families -- names and backgrounds of the *other* Deverin or Scarnetti scions. Also, I had wanted more detail on Jubrayl Vhiski but alas, I've developed him so thoroughly that by now, if Seven Dooms for Sandpoint has a huge amount of design for him I'll just have to transfer that to, like, a younger brother, best friend, or something. But that's always very welcome! (It's even worse for my 'Master Sorn' at The House of Blue Stones -- I desperately needed him to become a Cleric/Monk of Aroden for a PC who really was into Aroden so, you know, The House of Blue Stones is dedicated to Aroden. What can you do?

Nonetheless, I'm really excited to hear if any of the old dogs of Sandpoint that we've been roleplaying over the years are getting any new tricks.

THANKS!

Happy Arlo Guthrie Day wherever you are in the whole wide world. Don't forget to take twenty minutes, sometime today, to visit Alice's Restaurant -- in harmony -- and help end war and stuff.