Personally, I’d like to see the Rogue Dedication offer access to Finesse Striker (the rogue Dex to damage ability) rather than Surprise Attack. This small change opens up a wealth of builds (e.g., Dex-based but still melee paladins, fighters, barbarians, rangers...)
If this were to happen, I’d also like to see the addition of Thievery as a signature skill change to a choice between say, thievery and stealth.
I’d be interested if folks think this is unbalanced. I just think it opens up a lot of new options in a single simple way.
I'm with the OP on this one. Prestidigitation is and never has been OP, it's just been fun.
If you're going to theme it differently for each of the four traditions, then give each of them an equal number of different things they can do, or else separate them out.
5E does this very nicely with Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, and Druidcraft. They hit the nail on the head with those spells, I have to say.
True, but it’s very same-y. And I think that metamagic would see more use if there were different versions of spells that require different numbers of actions. Here’s another example of a different flavor of this idea with the cantrip Forbidding Ward (which is one of my favorite new cantrips):
Forbidding Ward Casting Somatic Casting or more
Range 30 feet; Targets one ally and one enemy
Duration concentration, up to 1 minute
Somatic Casting, Verbal Casting You ward your ally against the attacks and hostile spells of the target enemy. The target ally gains a +1 conditional bonus
to Armor Class and saving throws against the target enemy’s
attacks, spells, and other effects.
Somatic Casting If you have a Forbidding Ward already active, you may change either the target ally or target enemy, but not both. This counts as Concentrating on the spell.
Material Casting, Somatic Casting, Verbal Casting Take the Assist action without meeting that actions’s requirements. Use your Spell Roll instead of making a melee attack. If you have a two-action version of this spell active, this counts as concentrating on it.
Definitely agree with the assessment here; sorcerers need more flexibility if they’re going to be more limited by their spontaneous casting choice. Consider giving sorcerers more ways to modify their spells in interesting ways, beyond even what should be general metamagic feats.
Heal is a really cool spell because it takes advantage of the three action system in a really interesting way. Not enough spells do this!
I’m not saying that all spells should have 1/2/3 action versions, but more certainly should, especially cantrips which need to be more of spellcasters’ bread-and-butter. This lets players do interesting things with fewer choices during character creation/spell selection. And then interactions with metamagic become more interesting too!
Here’s an example with Ray of Frost:
One Somatic Action: Melee range only
One Somatic, one Verbal: As written
One somatic, one verbal, one material: The Target also takes 1 persistent cold damage
Simple changes like this make players feel like they have more agency and choice in what they’re doing, and I think that the three action system feeds into this beautifully.
Agreed; dynamism and complexity is exactly what martials need a little more of, and the three action system is perfect for giving them that. I don't know if it would end up slowing down play *that* much; casters are already in the same position in terms of "which spell should I cast, or should I just cantrip".
The Fighter already has a cool new thing it can focus on if they leaned into it, the stance and combo system. They can build the fighter's special stuff around that and becoming more proficient in more gear more quickly than other classes.
God yes, that would be fantastic. Right now the Open/Press system feels like it was designed to be more of a restriction than an option. Making Fighters feel more dynamic by making it more of a focus of design would be great IMO.
What I think would be great is if instead of one feat per one maneuver, and each maneuver being locked into open, press or finale, they did one of the following:
Each feat lets you select several maneuvers off a level appropriate list; OR
One feat per maneuver but the maneuvers are much more flexible, able to be used with different effects as either an opener, press or finale; OR
Go all the way, give a "maneuver progression" by level where you select them according to your desires like a caster chooses spells. Maneuver class feats here are used to get extra maneuvers beyond your progression or to open maneuvers for a new style / weapon family beyond what you started with, as well as stances of course.
As long as they don't go animu they can capture everything good about the Book of Nine Swords without turning people off. (Disclaimer: I actually like animu warriors, I'm just mindful of prevailing opinion, so they should avoid that feel at least until a splat book.)
Exactly this, couldn’t agree more. The reason casters are powerful is that they have options. Anything that increases players’ options and sense of agency is going to make a class more fun.
Exactly. Make class feats for unique features, and create pools of feats for more common uses. If you want to restrict them for casting classes for some reason, do it based on spell list. “Must have access to Arcane or Occult spell list”, for example. If you want to restrict them for certain martial classes, give it “Key ability: Dex” as a requirement or “Key ability: Str” as a requirement. Although then you’d want to make sure each class has a choice of which stat is their Key ability.
As an aside, I’d say another thing to do for these combat feats is to create more that add action options, in the vein of Sudden Charge. Creating new opportunities is what makes for a fun feat.
Amazing idea. Now let’s apply it to other classes, too! The Druid has definitely (IMO) hit the nail on the head in terms of design space for classes, the other classes should definitely be mimicking it.
This leaves the ACTUAL class feat design space for things which interface directly with the class' features or flavour.
And, most importantly, this approach doesn't arbitrarily prevent people from making a Sword & Board Ranger or an Archer Paladin, or any similar flavours which might be slightly less common than your generic dual-wielding rangers or whatever, but is no less valid despite that.
It's definitely possible to create a solid class identity for every class without randomly gating off certain playing styles just because they're not the most common.
Yes, yes, yes. And do the same for casters, too. Leave the class feat design space for interacting with and creating unique class features. I think this is emblematic of why so many people see the general feats as being kind of lackluster — there isn’t enough design space for them when you make all of the interesting and useful feats class feats.
The theme of PF2E to me is modularity, but the current ruleset doesn’t go far enough to embrace that idea, it just tips its toe in.
Edited the wand of bless found in room C10 for my game to make it more contraband-y and tie into Klades later on. Thought others might enjoy:
----------
This is a wand made of black stone. On its base is a skull whose eye sockets are threaded through with barbed chains [the holy symbol of Zon-Kuthon]. It is a wand of bless, with 18 charges remaining.
A note is attached:
"Warned Klades again (Sar 28) regarding contraband items. Claims wand isn't his but was found under a loose stone in his room."
I'm planning this campaign out now, and is it just me or does the final fight seem underwhelming? Ariadnah isn't really a "recurring" villain apart from her legend being discussed in books 1 & 2, and the star seed is cool but not exactly an evil genius behind everything.
I'm thinking of replacing Ariadnah with some kind of representation of Count Lowls' spirit or mind that is attempting to complete the ritual while his body has been subsumed by Xhamen-Dor. This necessitates changing some of the lore around her to reference other events instead, but that's outside the scope of this post.
Rather than a bard, I'm thinking of having Lowls be a silksworn occultist 16, with some kind of template that grants incorporeality to represent it being his spirit rather than his body. Ghost, animus shade, and a few others seem like great options, and a silksworn occultist not only works well thematically, but is a pretty potent support caster for the star seed.
Anyone else have thoughts about this final fight for what you did, or know of any templates that would be appropriate? Thanks!
Given that it's unlikely the Eldest (gods of the fey) will receive the deific obedience treatment any time soon, I've gone ahead and tried my hand at creating one for Magdh, the seer of the eldest.
I'd greatly appreciate any feedback, including any balance needed or rules clarification. Thank you!
I changed a few shop names here and there to suit my campaign, and added in some shopkeeps, but it should be a good framework for anyone wishing to adapt it. In my campaign (also Kingmaker), it appeared near the Ghost Stone after the party completed a ritual there (planar boundaries wearing thin and all that).
I've put together a player-friendly document for my own use that others might find useful. It has some campaign-specific parts (such as the symbol on Aggys' cart), but it should be fairly useful for a number of people. I've taken out most of the "secrets" about each stall and presented them all for player consumption. Additionally, a colored map is included with tags for locations.
I ran this last week to great success. I adjusted somewhat, making him a bit bigger, and made it so that there were multiple points of entry, or could be fought (poorly) from the ground).
..care to share on the visions aspect of your post? Sounds interesting!
Of course! Please understand that they are tailored to my campaign, but I'll put them here as reference.
Related is my (incomplete) document about the spirits of the land (once again, inspired by these forums), so that's here too, though somewhat unrelated to "solving" the riddle of the veil. Keep in mind that I tailored the rewards of attuning to my group.
This vision went to the priestess of Desna in the group. Its intent is to show the need for both the torc of moonlit passage and burning wormwood in the ritual.
"Overnight after the Kankerata run, you have a vivid dream. In it, you are wearing a silver and jade necklace that depicts the phases of the moon. You are surrounded by an acrid black smoke on all sides, but above you see a clear, starry sky. The smoke is choking, but the stars and moon above are strangely crisp. You wake up after staring at the sky for a moment, choking and coughing as if your lungs were filled with smoke."
Vision 2:
Spoiler:
This vision went to the group's rogue, who won the Kankerata Run. He was given the option to attune to Kankerata. It is meant to emphasize subtly the fresh earth of the Bloodfields. My players love putting pieces together, so I try to be a little vague often.
"The night following the Kankerata run, a dream comes to you. You are once more in the vast open plains of the Bloodfields, facing Talon Peak. An azure swallowtail butterfly lands on your shoulder, resting its wings peacefully. Suddenly, like a great leviathan rising from the deep, directly in front of you Kankerata breaches the soil, mouth agape. His jaws open wide enough to swallow a horse, and you stand there, frozen with fear. Before you are engulfed however, you feel yourself slip into the soil beneath your feet, narrowly avoiding the bullette’s attack. As soon as it came, it is now gone. Rising once more to the surface, you see the butterfly has moved, now resting upon the pile of disturbed earth left behind by Kankerata’s passing. You stare at it a moment in the utter calm of the fields, and then wake up as the butterfly takes flight."
Vision 3:
Spoiler:
This vision went to the group's bard, the Kingdom's diplomat. The nod to his tusk (he is a half-orc) is meant to foreshadow the need for one of Zosh'tar's teeth.
"At night after the Kankerata run, you have a vision of yourself standing between the people of Varnhold and the centaurs of the Dunsward, holding each side at bay. As your words attempt to make peace between the two peoples, you see a small, azure butterfly light upon your right tusk. After you stare at it for a while, you wake up suddenly. Strangely, your tusk feels a little tingly."
Vision 4:
Spoiler:
This vision went to the group's paladin of Iomedae, a recent addition. He came to the kingdom following a vision of a light behind a mountain (his invention), which I decided was Talon Peak. This vision was meant to reemphasize his earlier vision, while adding new information (it points toward both the locations of the Ghost Stone and the mudmen.)
"The night after the Kankerata run, the vision of the mountain returns. This time, you are standing on Star Bridge in Veridia (in my campaign, this is a bridge built to honor Desna at the Thorn River Ford; the line from this bridge to Talon Peak points toward the Ghost Stone and the mudmen), and notice the light is coming not from the mountain itself, but from behind it. A small, azure butterfly flits on the bridge's railing by your hands. Then you wake up."
Vision 5:
Spoiler:
This vision went to the group's barbarian who has a bit of a thing for dragons. It's meant to hint at the upcoming battle they'll be having with Zosh'tar's remains (animated by our favorite necromancer).
"The night after the Kankerata Run, you have a vision of two glowing serpentine eyes behind a layer of shadowy smoke. The eyes glow brighter and brighter, but you still cannot see the creature's face despite the brightness. Eventually your entire field of vision is a bright green and you wake up. When you awake and rub your eyes, there are the remnants of a green glow around you in the shapes of butterflies."
Vision 6:
Spoiler:
The final vision went to the group's wizard, and is too long to reproduce here. In it there were a lot of things; he had been considering an alignment shift and beginning to worship Cayden Cailean - those were major themes. Aside from that though, I hinted toward the miniature obelisk the group had found (and the wizard had held onto) among the mudmen in the vision, once again using the butterfly to denote significance.
Putting it together:
Spoiler:
Kizakubwa is where most of the pieces come together. Following an offer of burnt wormwood and an ascension to the peak (the offering altar is below the final peak on a plateau with an elven observatory, but that's part of a different plot), the roc accepts tribute of a personal item from each party member. Because the roc is related to the First World, items of emotional significance are much like currency to it. (I plan on using this to foreshadow the Witchmarket later on). After each person submits tribute, the roc adds the items to its nest and bestows a vision upon all of them:
"As Kizakubwa screeches in appreciation of your tribute, your minds are all flooded with images. You see yourselves gathered in a circle around a tall obelisk, with (the priestess of Desna) seated in front of it. Before her is gathered a small collection of objects: The miniature obelisk you found among the mudmen is surrounded by fresh earth, and inside this circle of earth is a burning herb, smoking softly. (The priestess of Desna) waves a large black feather in her right hand, wafting the smoke up to the top of the larger of the twin obelisks. In her left hand she holds a wicked fang the length of her forearm. This she uses to pierce the skin of her right hand, allowing blood to drip into the fresh earth before her as she continues to fan the smoke. Suddenly, a light bursts forth from the large obelisk, going into the heavens. Clouds part above, and the landscape to the south of the obelisk alters, and a dry riverbed is revealed."
This riverbed leads eventually to Vordekai's river and his island. Unfortunately, the light is seen far away as well, and the entrance via the Valley of the Dead is now visible too. Xamanthe takes this route (like as written), and beats the party by a day or two to Vordekai's lair.
One other change to the lair is that the graveknight in the 6 player version is the remains of the centaur Ferralyn from the epic tale posted in the ethnography.
First off, thanks for all your inspiration here Dudemeister, my players loved the run and I am using your trust score style of interaction. It's working great!
I wrote up a lot about the Nomen for my players to really get to know the centaurs and understand their rites and beliefs. After the run, I had Aecora and Tamerak (the centaur bard/ historian) relate their side of the history with Varnhold and their religious beliefs. They suggested to the party to commune with the spirits of the area to perhaps glean what may have happened to the Varnholders. In my game, the centaurs do not know what happened and were in fact wintering east farther in the Dunsward when the vanishing occurred, so aren't really of much direct help.
Spoiler:
They also know far less about Vordakai than as written. To them, he is but a figure in an ancient tale.
Aecora is heavily interested to know what happened to the people of Varnhold however, as she does not want the same to happen to her people.
Here is my google doc I made with all of the details of their religion, et cetera. I thought I'd share it with the community since I've taken so much from you guys!
Further, the ghost stone is much more important in my campaign. Its original purpose was to shroud the elven observatory on the top of Talon Peak from Vordakai's sight, but after the elves left for Sovyrian, Vordakai discovered the stone and perverted it to hide his lair instead. It therefore has markings in both Ancient Elven (Elven + Linguistics DC 25) and Cyclops. The effect is essentially an epic-like version of hallucinatory terrain that is difficult to break. Nyrissa provided Maegan Varn (the replacement for Willas IMC, Maegar's daughter and lead scout) with a ring that allowed her to see through the illusion and discover Vordakai's lair, and sent a dream to her that suggested she explore in that direction. This of course led to Vordakai's awakening.
For the PCs, seeing through the illusion will be much more difficult. Unless the specifically explore in that direction and make the Will save (DC 35 due to being a remnant of Vordakai's mythic power) to see through the hallucinatory terrain. Instead, they can break the spell by collecting offerings from the spirits of the area, and by conducting a ritual at the ghost stone to dispel Vordakai's illusion and find his lair.
The ritual involves a miniature version of the ghost stone found where the mud men are among the remains of an elven courier (he had an ioun stone that grants +2 to int skill checks on him that was granting the mudmen sentience after millenia of being buried in the bud here), burning wormwood from the Nomen burial grounds, a feather from Kizakubwa, fresh earth from the bloodfields, and a bone of the Linnorm Zosh'tar. Additionally, it requires a relic of the Nomen people (the torc of moonlit passage, as described in the doc above).
To aid the PCs, I'm having them receive visions from Desna (Mother Moon) after completing significant tasks. They all received one that spoke to their individual personalities after the Kankerata run, and each one hinted at a piece of the ritual. By communing with the other spirits (Mainly Kizakubwa, but Zosh'tar and the Nomen ancestors will be helpful too), they will learn more about how the ritual is done. They're vague, but just helpful enough.
Hopefully this will make them explore the area and learn the culture of the centaurs in depth, to truly appreciate the area. I'm doing this because my players very much try to solve most situations with diplomacy, and this adds a bunch of flavor and things to do other than combat.
Thoughts welcome of course! And thanks again Dudemeister for a lot of inspiration!
Think about how many types of "white" there are. do we name them all indevidually every time or just say white? Are japanese, koreans, chinese, etc all the same? no but asian is easier to say. and since this group is so many so varied subgroups that it is so hard to call anything at all without offending some im going with golfbag. especially in conversations that seem to be about token examples. Pull out the token like clubs from a bag after all....
...really? There are entire nations that are literally themed on certain real-world ethnicities. Not all of it makes it into the iconics, but when there are literally entire nations of Golarion dedicated to exploring a culture inspired by a real world one, especially those of Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia I think we can give Paizo a break.
(And for the record, I think that some of the writing (especially writing discussing the peoples of Arcadia as "savages", which I remember reading somewhere) is problematic. But misinterpreting Viking culture is far less problematic than misinterpreting the cultures of historically oppressed groups in (Western) society like Native Americans and Africans.)
Andrew R, I think you're really missing the point.
Like someone said upthread, if you're really that interested in having an iconic that represents X, then push for it. I doubt anyone here will stop you. In fact, they might help you with it. A significant number of players are interested in seeing LGBT iconics, and Paizo has responded - if not due to a specific "I want to see Y thread", due to their understanding of the issues. If you can show that there is need for X iconic, then they might respond to you as well.
It's unhelpful to say "no, I don't want to see any iconics of type Y until I get my iconic of type X,"; instead you should be celebrating that people of type Y are being represented in tabletop gaming, while STILL PUSHING for iconics of type X that you are interested in. By coming after another minority group, you're just poisoning the waters for everyone.
(Also, to a few people upthread: weight does not equal health. And many problems overweight/obese people face are actually not due to their weight, they're due to social conceptions of weight influencing their behavior and mood psychologically, both on an individual level and because of how other people treat the overweight/obese. I'm not saying weight doesn't correlate with health, just please be aware that there are other factors before making blanket statements as always.)
Kingmaker starts in Calistril of 4710, with the "bandit shakedown" of Oleg's scheduled for 1 Pharast.
Book one took my players until 24 Gozran to kill the Stag Lord and 12 Desnus to finish exploring their charter. Founding date of the kingdom was 26 Sarenith 4710 AR. Hope that gives you a little perspective.
With the newest GW Blog post, I'm really excited to see that training is becoming a finite resource that can be bartered and sold. I do have a concern though, namely that it will not be on par with trading physical goods. This is for one reason:
Upkeep.
Upkeep is what drives any economic system. As items leave the market after being used to the point of no longer being usable, crafters are there and ready to supply a brand new - and possibly improved - version. Or alternatively, are there to "reforge" the sword or "patch holes" in the wizard's robe. Either way, you're paying upkeep on the gear you own, and this upkeep continually keeps money flowing through the economy.
Yet with training, I'm worried that it will be a system where, once you've purchased the training, you do not need anything else. Sure, you'll need to return to train better skills/abilities/feats (I'm just going to say skill from now on for simplicity), but once you have a skill, it's yours forever. You theoretically never need to return to that place of skill training.
There are upsides and downsides to this. The upsides are for the consumer, the downsides for the training establishment. So what will keep the training establishment in business? Is it new customers, purchasing skills as they gain XP? Or is it old customers returning as they continue to advance (assuming the training facility keeps pace their advancement)?
While I'm not sure what the best way is to resolve what I see as a problem, I can offer a few opinions.
Solution 1:
This is largely a player-based solution. Training is expensive. Since you get to keep it forever, there should be a high fee for learning a skill, especially at upper tiers of play. Training facilities would subsist off of the large(r) payments of upper-tier players as they wait for lower-tier players to reach a similar level of skill. Rinse repeat. Additionally, larger fees are likely required of upper tier characters because by necessity, a significant portion of income will need to go into improving the facility. This is because if they want upper-tier characters as a significant source of income, they will need to be able to continually offer upper-tier skills.
Solution 2:
This is more of a GW-based solution. Training is not as expensive, but skills require upkeep (practice) to stay sharp. Over time (personally I would say time logged in, as that's when you're "using" your skills, but there are other solutions), a skill gradually decreases in efficacy. If this is the solution enacted, I think this should be a very slow decrement, such that you only need to really re-up your training once or twice a month or so, or it will get annoying quickly. And after a while, skills near the bottom of the pyramid stop needing to be re-upped as you become an expert or master at them. So, recently-acquired skills need continual training until mastery. This would allow for training establishments to charge more of a constant, low fee for training (perhaps with a larger installment for the initial skill purchase), rather than have to gouge trainees with a one-time fee. I think it would also allow the "training economy" to operate more smoothly and similar to the crafting economy.
Any thoughts on this? I love the idea of monetizing skill training, but I think it does need to be more than a one-time purchase to keep the training economy afloat (thus I like option 2 better). What do others think? Do you think this is even a problem?
Book 1: 50% original, 50% homebrew
Started the campaign in Restov, with the PCs as having been hired by Jamandi to do research on the Stolen Lands (gave them each some free skill points in knowledge or survival skills to reflect this.) The charter is announced, and they are Jamandi's hand-picked group. Significant intrigue here introducing the unease in Brevoy. The party met all of the other chartered groups at the banquet. Ran much of the rest as written, excepting the Stag Lord. While the party explored, I had the Stag Lord and his men attack Oleg's in response to the attack on the Thorn River ford to spur them into actively pursuing him. Added additional foreshadowing components.
Book 2: 10% Original, 90% Homebrew
Barest skeleton used for RRR. Completely redid kingdom building to emphasize RP and trade, removed magic item = BP economy. Used the excellent Hargulka's monster kingdom, and threw in a ton of random kingdom events, including peace talks between Mivon and Pitax, attending a banquet in Varnhold in celebration of its anniversary, and the Carnival of Tears module during the first winter of the kingdom, using the Cold Rider as a risen version of the Stag Lord. I'm adding in a modified version of Realm of the Fellnight Queen before the players get to Book 3.
Hi all - first, let me thank pretty much everyone here for great inspiration thus far for changes to my kingmaker campaign, especially DM_Dudemeister for his excellent additions to RRR.
My players have just finished up the main plotline of RRR, and I'd like to get some feedback from other GMs before continuing on with the next plot point I'd like to drop into the game: a truncated version of Realm of the Fellnight Queen. Currently, I've only dropped hints about Nyrissa, and as you'll see below, if I implement what I'm thinking, it's actually Rhoswen who's been manipulating the Stolen Lands so far. Basically, I'm looking for feedback on whether you guys think what I have plotted is feasible, and if you see any plot holes before I go on with it, because I can still revert to the traditional storyline at this point.
Relevant History:
Spoiler:
In my history of the Stolen Lands, Nyrissa was once the consort of Count Ranalc, and she gave birth to a daughter (Rhoswen) long ago before even Starfall. A little while before Starfall occurred, Rhoswen noticed the elves of Kyonin begin searching for a new home (what would eventually become Sovyrian on Castrovel). Rhoswen brought the elves' activity to the attention of her parents, and they looked on as elves in what are the present-day Stolen Lands sought out a new home. They were intrigued by the idea of other worlds; in their corner of the First World, none had thought to look for realms beyond the readily apparent diversity in the First World around them.
From their observatory atop Talon Peak the elves scouted for possible locations of their new home, discovering not only Sovyrian, but also locations on Golarion’s Moon and on other worlds in Golarion's solar system. Now with several locations noted, the elves continued with phase two of their plans: to build a gateway to these worlds, and explore them for one hospitable to the elven people. It was on Candlemere Lake where the elves headed up this effort; a powerful confluence of ley lines on the lake proved to be essential for their world-spanning magic.
All the while, Nyrissa, Rhoswen, and Count Ranalc watched on. They even subtly guided the elves to pursue stranger and stranger vistas, fascinated with the surprising amount of variation the Material Plane could show. Candlemere thus became a testing ground for the elves’ interplanetary portal magic, and it is from here the elves explored the vistas spotted through their observatory, and also different planes - including the Shadow Plane and the First World. Eventually the elves explored Aucturn, the Stranger. When the connection with Aucturn was made, however, it drew the attention of the Lurker in the Threshold, Yog-Sothoth. (This is all inspired by DM_Dudemeister: link). The elves who were present at Candlemere when this occurred were enslaved by Elder Things sent through the portal, and retreated to the Talon Peak observatory to pursue unknowable goals. Elves not at Candlemere sensed the evil that had occurred there when they returned, and abandoned their survey of worlds—settling on Sovyrian as the destination of choice, and taking all of their research with them to Iadara to begin building the elf gate that would take them to their new home.
This left an opening for the fey. Each of them were interested in a different aspect of the elf gate: Rhoswen in the Dark Tapestry, Count Ranalc in the powers of the Shadow Plane, and Nyrissa in using the gate to peer through the mists of time itself. The fey faced a problem, however. Starfall had occurred on Golarion, and the night sky was obscured with dust. With the help of her parents, Rhoswen was able to bring a copy of the gate room on Candlemere Island whole cloth into the Fellnight Realm (essentially the prototype of Nyrissa's plan to bottle the Stolen Lands). From the dark of the Fellnight, the trio was able to gaze at the stars without interruption. For years they studied the darkness of the skies together, peering through ancient eons and using the portal to explore strange vistas.
It was Nyrissa's peering through time that condemned them, however. She saw, far in the future, her own death at the hands of heroes. Not wanting such an event to occur, she began building her own realm in the First World, the stonghold of Thousandbreaths. Magdh, Eldest of prophecy and fate, did not enjoy her demesne being trespassed upon, and particularly did not enjoy Nyrissa's attempt to change her own fate. Convening a council of the Eldest - save Count Ranalc - Magdh sent the Jabberwock to attack Nyrissa's stronghold before it was complete. Its mission was not to kill her, but instead to rend a piece of her away, and to then guard her in her realm. Using ancient magic, the Eldest council severed the Thousandbreaths into its own demiplane off of the First World, and forbade Nyrissa ever from leaving it. They cast the piece of her that the Jabberwock had rent off (Briar) into the Material Plane, beyond Nyrissa's reach. Thus, Magdh cleverly turned Nyrissa's stronghold into a prison, where she could await her death at the hands of heroes far in the future.
Taken as collaborators, Rhoswen and Count Ranalc were not spared sentencing. Rhoswen's Fellnight Realm too was severed from the main portion of the First World, and the elf gate's connections were severed with it - all save the connection between Rhoswen's copy of the elf gate and its twin on Candlemere Island. This they sealed with a warding keystone of adamantine in the version of the gate in the Fellnight Realm, cursed so that no native to the realm could ever touch it. None could get in or out while the wardstone existed, save for Rhoswen's otherworldly will-o'-wisps, who were ineffectual against the wardstone itself. Cruelly, the Eldest also made it so that the Fellnight was in eternal twilit sunset - just bright enough that Rhoswen could not gaze into her beloved Dark Tapestry.
Count Ranalc was banished similarly to the Shadow Plane, where he met his fate at the hands of the Arclord Nex many years ago.
Ok, so that's the historical background information. Now, to the present day:
Spoiler:
In the thousands of years she has been in the Thousandbreaths, Nyrissa has used her knowledge of portal magic gleaned from the elf gate to create the Fable, a device possibly even more powerful than an operating elf gate, at least within her realm. From it, and a copy of the visionary lens found in the Fellnight Realm, she has been quietly watching the Material Plane, looking for signs of Briar and of the heroes from her vision. Now that the Age of Lost Omens is here, Nyrissa feels that she may have an opportunity to finally escape her fate.
Though she cannot leave her realm fully, Nyrissa has devised a clever method of projecting her image through mirrors (see here for the inspiration of this). Basically, she cannot leave line of sight from the mirror while projecting herself through it. Using this, she has been subtly affecting events in the stolen lands and beyond for some time now, preparing them for her bottling ritual. She has collected the souls if Rogarvian nobles to power her spell (she is the reason behind the vanishing of said nobles; Choral struck a bargain with her for his powers that had unintended consequences), and now she concerns herself largely with Irovetti and Pitax, and allows Rhoswen to deal with threats nearer to the elf gate, only occasionally aiding her with items such as the cursed ring of animal enmity from RRR. They communicate through sending (replace one of Rhoswen’s 4th level spells with it) and through this method of mirror transport, as neither can leave their respective realms. Nyrissa does this not out of love for her daughter (as that part of her was rent away ages ago) but out of a mutual desire for revenge on the Eldest.
And now what to do currently:
Spoiler:
This means that basically throughout books one and two of the AP, Rhoswen stands in for Nyrissa. She influenced the Stag Lord, as well as prodded Hargulka into attacking the PC kingdom. My PCs are at an interlude now after defeating Hargulka, and I want to make sure I execute the next part right.
The kingdom is on good terms with the lizardfolk tribe on the Candlemere, so I think I'd like to run the wedding scene from Fellnight Queen instead as a celebration of the start of spring (or summer, depending on when I want to spring this on the PCs) on the lizardfolk island. Instead of Tenzekil the gnome, a lizard folk shaman (let's call her Isserya) has been communing with the ancestors on Candlemere Island, in an effort to restore balance after it is revealed "the trolls" tricked them into worshipping a will-o'-wisp (actually Rhoswen, who was helping the trolls). Isserya stumbles through the gate on Candlemere island into the Fellnight Realm while attempting to commune with her ancestors, the first creature to do so since Rhoswen's imprisonment (the gate is only active, appropriately, at twilight.) Isserya enters the realm through the copy of the elf gate in the Fellnight Realm, where Rhoswen has built her fortress around her copy of the gate. Seizing on the opportunity to finally escape, she sends a geased (using the visionary lens) Isserya back through the portal, carrying the wardstone with her. Isserya returns to the Material Plane with no memory of the encounter, rousing from her enchantment with her claws dirty with earth - she'd buried the wardstone in her private sanctuary.
She returns to the lizard folk tribe believing to have gone on a spirit quest, and holds the spring ritual to honor the ancestors she believes inspired it. In actuality, Rhoswen left one final directive on the enchantment - to invite the PC rulers that have been a thorn in her side for so long to the ritual, and use it kill them once and for all. Instead of bees, substitute in dragonflies, as these are more appropriate for lizard folk. After Isserya summons the dragonflies to attack, she faints cold, her geas expended. The fellnight spriggans attack en masse led from the rear by Agai (from Varnhold Vanishing - he should escape if at all possible), and mist rolls in to the lizardfolk village.
Assuming the PCs drive off the attack, it’s likely they will have some questions for Isserya. She will explain all that she remembers, which is “communing with the spirits” on Candlemere, and then waking up in her home with dirt-covered claws. She offers to take them through the mist to her home, a modified version of Dead Man’s Drop from Fellnight Queen. Basically, it’s a small spring-fed pool carved into the southern cliffs of lake Candlemere with a druid’s hut on the bank of the pool. En route, the fog thickens. The wardstone is buried in the mud here, and she can point out to the PCs where she remembers waking, and further - touching the wardstone a second time restores her memories. When they arrive at her hut, however, the entire area is shrouded in fog generated by the water elementals and the wardstone. After the PCs slay the water elementals, the fog clears... and the PCs realize they are cut off from the exit to the lake by Agai’s forces. He waxes poetic about Duchess Rhoswen’s armies arriving, and orders them to surrender.
Fortunately, Isserya can get the PCs to safety. She calls to them to gather around her, and she casts communal ride the waves on the party. They dive into the pool, following her lead through a hidden tunnel under the water that emerges somewhere to the west of her den. The PCs should encounter nixies along the way that warn them of the multitudes of spriggans coming from Candlemere Island. Once they are on land, Isserya then explains what she remembers in full, going into detail about how Rhoswen got her to dislodge the wardstone and carry it through the portal, which Rhoswen activated with her staff. (This should key the PCs into thinking that the staff is linked to the portal’s activation.) She urges the PCs to go back to Candlemere Island and go through the portal - which will be active any moment now. She will return to her people to help King Vesket defend them from any of Rhoswen’s armies, though she is normally a pacifist.
The PCs must brave Candlemere Island, which now has several Spriggan camps on it, and reach the gate room at the top of the tower. At this point, I plan on running Fellnight Queen normally, with the gate in Candlemere opening up to the gate room in Rhoswen’s Palace (it is replacing the Dungeon and cavern system for me, and Jaxir and his spriggans make up the guards of the gate room rather than jailers. If PCs try simply replacing the wardstone, they find it doesn’t work; it needs to be sealed into place with magic (the crook). As the PCs ascend through the palace, have them spot through the windows massive armies of spriggans gathering under different banners - the ones they’ve seen so far are just the forward guard. Since they could never hope to deal with such a threat militarily, this should impress on the PCs that they must try to seal them in the Fellnight Realm instead. When the meet Rhoswen directly, reflavor her shadows to instead be inky blackness from the Dark Tapestry; simply reskinning them should be enough to impress upon the party that she is incredibly knowledgeable about the darkness between the stars - at least those from 10,000 years ago. Before she dies, or if any PC approaches her throne, she should call out “For you, mother!” and cast spark (or a shadow evoked fire spell if PCs are nearby) on an open book casually lain across her throne - this is her personal journal of the most important events since her imprisonment, and by destroying it is concealing vital information about Nyrissa that the PCs might otherwise find. This is one last act of familial fealty before she dies. Consider leaving some choice passages near the beginning and end unburnt, as teasers to the party. Definitely don’t reveal any information about Nyrissa herself yet at this point.
Finally, a little resolution:
Spoiler:
Once Rhoswen is defeated, Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcana checks with the crook of Cildhureen should allow players to glean enough information to realize it is essential in resealing the gate to Candlemere, and will allow them to return to the Material Plane. Though they don’t have much time in the palace (due to the massive armies outside), the PCs should at least find a copy of Zuddiger’s Picnic (gifted to Rhoswen from her mother via mirror transportation magic - sort of her little joke), and the scraps of Rhoswen’s personal journal, as mentioned above. Additionally, plant little items in her bedroom reminiscent of the Stag Lord (perhaps a replica of his helm made of thorny branches) and Hargulka (perhaps a map matching that found in his den, but beautifully made, and in Sylvan), clearly implicating her in their actions.
From here, the PCs should return to the Material Plane with some mysteries solved, but other questions, as well. Now they know who was behind the Stag Lord and Hargulka, yet who is Rhoswen’s mother? Nyrissa does not take the death of Rhoswen particularly hard; she did not love her any more after all. Yet still, she now recognizes the PCs as a much bigger threat than before, and decides to begin dealing with them herself. She starts by waking an ancient lich...
Thoughts? Plotholes? Concerns? Do I reveal too much by having Rhoswen here, or is it a decent “mid-boss” that reveals just enough to keep PCs guessing? Please let me know what you think, and feel free to borrow liberally if you like it!
