Wyatt Schlaufman's page

The last thing I have to say is that I think Psionics really needs to find it's own little corner of what it is. There is already a source or "it comes from within" (Cleric/Druid) ...

Actually, now that I think about it, what if no one knows where Psionics comes from?

Ummm... I thought clerics prayed to their gods and were granted their spells via these deities? I mean, that is literally what it has said for pretty much all of third edition. And druids revere and commune with nature... not just shooting lightning by focusing on it.

But beyond that, the way I'm using Psionics in my current game was actually inspired by the circular time line of the illithids. The only current psion (a PC) is actually an explorer from the far future who was caught in a temporal rift. She is gifted with the ability to sense and harness the energies of the Universe, but I still use magic/psi transparency. It's simply that in her time magic is not thought of as magic. People don't pray to gods, they don't read dusty tomes of power and memorize spells. They simply learn to call upon that energy directly with their minds. Kind of how any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

She can still sense magic, and even understands the schools of magic now that is has been explained to her. She simply is attuned to it slightly differently. What she considers negative energy is usually necromancy, conjuration is sensed as spatial distortion, divination is described as a sense of being watched times ten, etc, etc.

It takes a little more effort I guess, but it actually makes a really interesting story. And my players are happy with it, which is the most important part to me.

Oh, and to answer the original question of this thread, I think there really doesn't need to be too much updating for Pathfinder psionics. Maybe give the different specializations abilities kind of like the wizard schools, think about getting rid of the crystal familiar (I always thought the idea of a sentient pet rock was silly), and there is definitely some need for a psionic healer.

Personally, I would take this and tie it into a post STAP epic campaign. Maybe the villagers think they've been spared the wrath of their god by a few foreigners and then get a little lenient on their other duties, sacrifices, prayers, etc.

Knowing their age is coming to an end, perhaps some of the darker gods of the pantheon (Zotzilaha included) decide to gather their last remaining strength and manifest fully in the world to remind the Material Plane why these beings were once worshiped.

The first target of their wrath? The isle of Dread!

Otherwise I would go with the whole fire and brimstone route.

I completely agree he became far too weak, especially considering the allies the PCs get.

I know for my own game I will be weakening him a bit less. He won't lose his spell-like abilities, and will probably only lose his demon controlling aura.

When he arrives, it won't be by Gate but by the very essence of the Abyss kind of roiling up and shaping itself into the most horrific demon lord the Abyss has to offer! Plus the room will reshape itself into a more suitable final stand.

I fully plan on him using Gate to bring in Belcheresk as well as calling on his ally Zuggtmoy, who will send an aspect to aid him. If the players use Gate to call in reinforcements, I will fully allow this. Possibly canceling his allies out, effectively.

I do plan on allowing the negative levels, but I'm going to rule that the reason for them taking out a lot of the aspects, clones, and weakening his power is simply to bring him down to a level they can actually fight and hope to even stand a chance against.

Oh, and I believe he can actually summon 90HD of demons... That's several Balors. Or even more Mariliths. With 6 attacks per round, that can get mighty nasty.

This is something I really think my players will be able to handle and even kind of expect. If they faced the weak as can be Demogorgon they're meant to, I just don't think the players will fully appreciate the win.

I know in a campaign I played in last year with the same group, we went Epic and fought this avatar of a Dragon god who had been causing all manner of problems for the multiverse for the entire campaign. Our plans worked insanely well, and we even gathered together five artifacts designed entirely to kill this one being. We killed it in like four rounds. Nobody even died. Honestly, we felt cheated out of what should have been our crowning moment. Even the DM was like... "Oh. He looked tougher when I statted him out. So what next?"

Lame.

I won't be running a final combat like that.

Still, I think really you need to make the final call on what your group can handle and will enjoy. You're the DM after all.

Other than the finale, I loved 150 btw.

Ahazu: No, the Paladin could not consciously agree to Ahazu's deal without Falling. Pledging your soul to a Demon Lord and agreeing to procure a sacrifice of primeval power is bad, and in classic D&D the ends do not justify the means. On the other hand, Ahazu's deal is obviously for suckers and the non-Paladin PCs might not be willing to consider it, either, so I'd give the Paladin the benefit of the doubt and try to come up with a way around the deal. Maybe Ahazu can be bargained down. Maybe there's another way to free Shami-Amourae. Maybe independent in-game PC research will lead to Iggwilv, thereby rendering Shami-Amourae irrelevant.

Iggwilv: As written, the party never actually promises Iggwilv anything. She blithely announces that she sees fit to cooperate with the party for now, and later on she announces she will be demanding a favor later. The party is able to bargain down the favor when she reveals it (and in fact, the favor is not particularly alarming) and she does not have any DM fiat method of ensuring they pay up.

Malcanthet: No, you can't really accept her terms without Falling, but you don't have to give her what she wants. Load up on Mind Blanks and Death Wards so she doesn't give you her profane boon (the malicious form of the Queen's Kiss is another matter, and not an infraction because it is not consensual) and Sleight of Hand the Iron Flask. Or if you must, fetch Crimson. Even though most PCs will...

Ahazu: Oh, yeah, his request is SOOO unreasonable. "Please fill my prison with big nasty evil creatures!" Mind you, the players have no clue whatsoever that this is empowering him in any way. He could be just a very proud prison warden who likes keeping powerful individuals for his own sick pleasure. Considering the level of play for epic creatures, the access to resurrection, wishes, miracles, and plain ol' immortality... Well, you need something like this to make sure big bads don't rear their ugly heads. The players don't have to pledge their souls to him, they just have to agree to forfeit their souls should they not come through on a deal... Which a lawful person would anyway. Which brings me to...

Iggwilv: Despite the fact she could totally dismember a party of 20th level character without breaking a sweat, the players don't have to follow through on their deal. But they should! Any good or lawful characters should want to stay true to their word. I think lying so flagrantly is just as likely if not more so to make Paladin fall. At least allying with these forces of darkness is done in the greater good. Being petty jerks is just pathetic.

Malcanthet: You don't have to accept her gifts, that's true. However, I don't remember a kiss from a demon being against the Paladin code. Sure, eating a baby with a demon, that I can see. But a kiss? Come on! And besides, chances are the Paladin won't have the lowest charisma, so he won't be asked anyway. In the end, she's been the most helpful during the campaign out of everyone and her demands don't seem terribly unreasonable to me, considering what she is and what she's offering. OH, and the matter of just using "Sleight of Hand" for the Iron Flask...

A) How would the rogue get close enough to steal the Flask unless he was to be kissed?
B) Before she shows it to them, when it is then IN HER HANDS, the players don't see it on her. So why would the rogue even think to try to steal it???
C) Stealing an artifact off of the body of a demon lord in their kingdom... Well, that just makes the sense that isn't good.

Your other arguments I agree with.

Mr Death is on the loose again ! :

- 1st adventure (TINH) : 80 PCs / 9 NPCs-familiars-animals

- 2nd adventure (TBG) : 54 PCs

- sidetrek before 3rd adventure : 3 PCs

- 3rd adventure (SWW) : 68 PCs / 18 NPCs-familiars-animals

- 4th adventure (HTBM) : 33 PCs / 12 NPCs-familiars-animals (Avner's horse taken into account)

- 5th adventure (ToD) : 20 PCs / 2 NPCs-familiars-animals

- sidetrek before 6th adventure : 2 PCs

- 6th adventure (TLD) : 10 PCs / 1 NPC-familiar-animal

- sidetrek before 7th adventure : 1 PC

- 7th adventure (CoBI) : 10 PCs

- 8th adventure (SoS) :

- 9th adventure (ItM) :

Soooo... either you are a terrible DM or you are running a group of imbeciles with no tactics whatsoever.

Seriously. If I played in a game with 80 PC deaths in the first adventure, I would just throw in the towel. That sounds like no fun at all.

Sorry to be so blunt about this, but damn; That is a lot of death.

I still haven't received my copy of issue 146, so I finally gave in and ordered another issue. While at my friend's house I scanned his issue and saw that the Jade Ravens aren't supposed to continue past this adventure... but I wasn't able to read it carefully. So I have a few questions:

I saw the "fates" of Zan and Liamae, but what about the other Ravens?

In the Birdcage, who was the Young Master? Was it the slaymate?

How important is it that the PCs have met Harliss before? When my group played the Bullywug Gambit, they rested so much between encounters by the time they finally got to the room Harliss was supposed to be in, all they found were some dried puddles of slime, as well as a couple of daggers stuck into the walls where humanoid outlines of green dust appeared. Clear signs there was a battle where someone quite skilled took out several of the savage pirates. Is the fact they've never met her going to impact them negatively? Should I introduce her nowishly? My players are currently in Fogmire during HTBM, where should I bring her in and how?

Any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks.

Wyatt

Gurubabaramalamaswami wrote:

Hero Points are strictly for PCs. A good DM doesn't need them, owing to his demi-divine ability to "fudge".

Fudging is a crutch and a sign of a lackluster DM. Everyone plays by the same rules, and if the PCs manage to one-shot the villain, well, it happens sometimes. Roll with it. It'll make your games better.

My players love that I make all combat rolls in the open. Lets them know that I'm not letting them win or screwing them over, but running the encounter straight and above-board. All I roll in secret are their Search, Spot, etc checks, and only when it's something that the character wouldn't catch on a failed check.

Try it. You'll be surprised how much it makes you up your game as a DM.

Well, I must disagree with you here. For my group, D&D is not just a miniatures game, it's a storytelling game. The DM is just the facilitator, the supporting cast of this story. Rolling dice is arbitrary for a DM.

In truth, the DM ALWAYS lets the players win. You control the game. If you decide it's too easy, you can make more creatures for the players to fight in the next room. You decide everything. It's not simply a matter of player versus player here, where the dice really matter.

Don't get me wrong, for the most part I just roll the dice during combat and let the chips fall where they may, but occasionally it is better to just fudge the dice and say the BBEG doesn't slay the entire party in a round, or keep the villain alive an extra round to escape and hassle the party later. The only time I let such things happen is when the party has either made really stupid moves after repeated signs/warnings to do otherwise, or if they actually work really hard on a plan to take out the BBEG.

I've actually done things your way before, and I must say the party enjoys things this way a lot more. Not to mention they can't calculate the monsters' exact ability this way. Still, everyone has their own way of DMing. It's just rude to act like changing dice rolls to add to the game is somehow a lesser way to judge.

Peace. Love. Unity. Respect.
Wyatt

I think James said the fang was supposed to be wrapped in a cloth bearing the symbol of Malcanthet.

James actually said it would be the symbol of Ahazu, to give savvy players a clue to figuring out the right pattern for the floor in Wells of Darkness. Instead the person in possession of the tooth now gets an overwhelming urge to make the pattern when he sees the floor, if I remember correctly.

The next adventure my players will finally be meeting the glutton, and knowing my players they will definitely look for his hoard...

Anybody have any ideas for easily adaptable side quests or maps to use for his underwater lair? I tend to over-do treasure, so a list of that would be really helpful as well.

Are Saint Kargoth the Betrayer and Belcheresk going to be statted by the end of the AP in the magazine? I saw Belcheresk is supposed to be an advanced Balor fighter 4, but I haven't seen anything on Kargoth...

If they aren't, does anyone have any ideas for what they'll be doing with these two? I figured Demogorgon would probably gate both in at the start of combat.

Any answers would be appreciated! Thanks.

After things began going awry on the Sea Wyvern in TSWW, my party decided to collect everyone who seemed suspicious (which was mostly named NPCS) and question them under the affect of a Zone of Truth spell.

They were all trying to pin it on Avner or Skald, but poor Father Feres was one of two (the other being Amella) to fail their will save. The questioning begins...

Catfolk Warmage/Wizard: Okay, well let's see if the spell worked and ask some obvious questions. Father Feres, do you worship Heironeous?

Father Feres: Well, see... The thing is about that... It's not really that I don't worship Heironeous! You know, there are just a lot of gods, and to say any one is the true god to worship is a bit hasty and I like to keep my options open and you should really, really ask someone else a question!

Party: *Stunned silence*

Role playing that interrogation was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

While the adventure itself wouldn't be too hard to swap out - just find a way for the PCs to get to the abyss, get Lavinia out of jail and kill her undead brother; Once you have "Wells of Darkness," you'll figure out what clues you need to sprinkle into your version of Into the Maw to keep the path going.

-HOWEVER-

Missing "Into the Maw" means you miss a bullywug lich, a celestial mountebank and a grossly perverse demodand, among other things. It's a great adventure. You should really consider tracking it down. Now, If you're going to change up an adventure, "Wells of Darkness," might be a good choice... ;)

Yeah, I definitely have to say you are missing out on some pretty cool encounters and very interesting villains if you miss "Into The Maw". Personally, I love the kelvezu blackgaurd, S'Sharra! She is going to put some serious smack-down on my pcs and she's cute as a button to boot.

Wells of Darkness on the other hand... All you really need is an adventure where the PCs must rescue a powerful demon with information. Much easier, in my opinion. Not to mention you won't be missing out on much...

Personally, the pact aspect of this adventure was one of the only things I did like! It's so unusual and a very novel thing in D&D, not to mention a fun moral dilemma!

Yeah, so Freedom sucks. Got it. Now get over it! The fact that an entire plane of imprisonment requires the spell cast from one specific book with a connection to the prisoner not only adds flavor but makes complete sense to me. Of course there are rules that are unexpected, and only one way to free the prisoner. If it was easier, why wouldn't her cult have done it by now? Why wouldn't someone just come along and cast freedom on any of the prisoners they like? I mean, it only takes the PCs a couple of years in game time to gain that kind of power, surely NPCs could do it too.

Also, the players have no reason to suspect the prisoners empower Ahazu in any way. Until I read that, I figured he was just a bitter demon lord who enjoyed to watch imprisoned creatures, especially powerful ones.

So to the writer and James Jacobs and anyone else involved, I loved the pact aspect of this adventure. Not only is it a cool twist, but it solves the problem of "what do you do with an immortal being whose essence can just coalesce again after you defeat him?" Don't listen to the haters!

My group has finally hit the Sargasso. They went through their first fight with those Vine Horrors.

For DMs who have already run this part of the adventure, how did you do the following:

Vine Horrors can "summon" one Assassin Vine-like creature out of the seaweed. Mechanically, can they 1) "summon" more than one, 2) can the creature attack right away, and 3) can the Vine Horror act independently or must it concentrate on the creature?

My group is one-level higher than should be for this adventure. I jumped up the Vine Horrors, but are you supposed to also adjust the "summoned" creature?

Thanks for any mechanical help here. My 3.5-fu isn't as strong as it should be.

Vine horrors can only create 1 vine at any one time, but if the vine is destroyed it can animate another the next round. The vine can attack the same round it is created. If the vine horror is advanced in hit dice, it does not increase the abilities of the controlled vine.

Also, the vine horror does not need to concentrate to control the vine, which means it can attack and have the vine attack in the same round, though not the round it is created.

That's about it. Have fun running them! I thought they were a blast.

Charon appears in "Enemies of my Enemy" (issue 149).

How powerful? Very. I think he was roughly CR 22, and James may have bumped him up slightly. The adventure path is veering deeper into epic territory than the original spec called for.

Which is a good thing.

I noticed how quickly things got epic in this path. By Into The Maw, the first epic combat was already on the table. I was getting seriously excited at the idea of my players being truly epic for the last adventure or two, since it seems like campaigns always end as soon as everyone gets their coolest abilities.

But then I got issue 148... It sort of makes me wonder why Wells of Darkness is so lacking in suitable challenges.

I can't wait for your adventure. You've yet to disappoint me.

It seems to me that someone like Lavinia would not want to be the cohort of one of her employees, no matter how awesome they may be.

After all, aren't cohorts supposed to be people who need a leader? Didn't she hire and direct the PCs, chart an expedition to Farshore, then lead Farshore as Mayor? Why would she take orders from anybody, especially her subordinate?

Though in my own game, I plan for her to play a role in the last adventure. Every player is going to get a second character to play who has an interest in destroying Demogorgon. She will be updated to equivalent level to the PCs and fully decked out with equipment fitting someone with her resources. Though in this situation she won't be led by the PCs so much as joining their team for one last adventure to end all adventures.

Just my two copper pieces.

104: This unfurnished room features nothing but a small rusted grate in the center of the floor. Spanning out from the grate in several directions are small grooves and scratches on the ground, some of which upon closer inspection have fingernails stuck in them.

105: Nailed to the wall of this cell is a woman with the sinew and skin of her back ripped open and spread out like hellish wings behind her. A smile of ecstasy graces her lifeless face.

106: In this chamber you see a skeletal child scratching into every surface the cryptic words, "I will not tell lies." Any attempt to speak to the small skeleton receives no answers and the undead thing does not fight back if attacked.

107: Hanging from the ceiling of this room are spiked chains which seem to twitch and almost follow, ever so slightly, the characters who walk beneath them. Several dried pools of blood cover the floor.

108: This room full of odd maps and decaying scrolls fills you with an unexplainable urge to conquer the weak, making you notice annoying traits of your own companions.

An awesome recurring villain tactic I am using is that I have Rowyn Kellani as a drowned from one of those MMs. not sure which one. Now my Pcs are in CoBI, and once they reach Into the Maw, Rowyn will be a fiendish drowned warlock.(I took away all the bard and rogue levels after she drowned and became a, well, drowned.)

How funny! I did a very similar thing with Rowyn. After my party killed her by tying her up and drowning her after knocking her out on the Wyvern, I decided right then she had to come back for one last scare. I've statted her up as an advanced, elite Drowned who will make her final appearance during the siege of Farshore in Tides of Dread. That'll teach them to execute people as a good party.

I’m running Fiend’s Embrace as a one-off starting next week, hopefully before running STAP. The item itself (Fiend’s Embrace) is quite interesting, and it might be cool if there was a link to STAP, so that it somehow grants increasing power with the wearer’s level (NOTE: don’t make it a legacy item, I thought those rules sucked):

For instance, the item starts of as an intelligent cloak that grants:
* +1 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +4 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire resistance 10.

At 17+ levels, perhaps it grants:
* +5 resistance bonus on all saves,
* +6 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, and
* Fire immunity.
Its mental abilities, ego, and other abilities should also improve; perhaps it even gains a special purpose.

Perhaps one of Malcanthet’s agents places the cloak somewhere earlier on (thus requiring a slight retrofitting, maybe in “Tides of Dread”- in the shrine with the Tooth of Ahazu- or somewhere in “The Lightless Depths” adventure). The PCs gain a useful item that grows with them, and it might even be of use- possibly as a bargaining chip- later on. Sound good to anyone?

I've actually done something similar for STAP. I've given each character a "Destiny" item that increases with power as they do, since legacy items just plain suck.

Maybe Olangru could have fiend's embrace? Perhaps he was exiled for stealing it from Demogorgon's personal collection, which means it could have valuable information about the Demon Prince later on. It seems slightly more organic and subtle than Malcanthet planting TWO powerful items in a well gaurded collection.

Good luck with your campaign!

Wyatt