Zagig's page

Yeah, my monster is going to have to either ready an action or try and grapple. Based on the description, I do think that the spell is pretty obvious how it works.

Self Telekinesis

Element(s) aether; Type utility (Sp); Level 3; Burn 0

You use your telekinetic abilities to move yourself. Otherwise, this wild talent functions like flame jet.

Flame Jet
Element(s) fire; Type utility (Sp); Level 3; Burn 0

You shoot a burst of flame behind you as a standard action, propelling you up to 60 feet in a straight line, including into the air; any movement upward costs double. If you end your turn mid-air, you fall on your next turn unless you use flame jet again.

So, if flame jet shoots a burst of flame, then self telekinesis must shoot a burst of aether. My monster should be able to tell as soon as the ability is used that it isn't a spell.

That intersection has a hard-to-spot trap.

It's hard to tell it's a trap, agreed. However, it's easy to tell that it's SOMETHING out of the ordinary. As predicted, my party walked around it without even trying to find out what it was. What I have decided is that there used to be something in these intersections that is no longer there.

I would go for DC40 and a Greater Fire Elemental.

Based on the summoning trap creation rules, the DC of a summoning trap is 25 plus the level of the summoning spell.

Oh man, I just realized something bad. One of my flying characters is the kineticist using self telekinesis. I can't target that with dispel magic. So, since she has to use aether to push herself through the air, it will be pretty obvious that the effect is different and Dispel Magic won't work. I think they would target her immediately at that point. She's got darkvision for 10 feet and she always gets to act in a surprise round and is never denied her Dex bonus to AC so they are going to have a hard time with her, plus I hate to target one character over the others, but it makes sense to me that they would do this.

If I can get her on top of the covered bridge, even if she's up in the air, I think that I can bull rush her into the lava. Technically, she's not flying between actions so she can be moved, I think, and would fall.

The descriptions of self telekinesis and flame jet indicate that the kineticist isn't actually flying but are instead pushing themselves through the air as an action each round.

This leads me to the conclusion that a caster cannot affect them with dispel magic as it's not a continuous effect that can be targeted on the caster's round and it can't be counterspelled since it's a spell-like ability.

So, is an anti-magic field the only spell that can end the self telekinesis/flame jet abiltiy?

If they're using spell-like abilities, there should be no sound as they don't have verbal or somatic components (you can certainly have them make sounds if you want). Unless the PCs can actually see them (they'd see them concentrate momentarily) they won't be aware unless they see something happen, like the darkness appear.

Oh yeah, I forgot that it was just concentration. Oh well, it's done.

If the party tries to wait out the darkness spells, just have them snipe at the ones who can't see through darkness until they move.

I think I got this one solved. I did some in depth distance figuring and such today. The demons can run 1200 feet in 1 minute. The intersection, and turning point to get further into the city, is only 1350 feet or so down the avenue from the bridge. One of the summoned demons is going to teleport 75 feet from the bridge and begin running down the avenue, every 40 feet dropping darkness stones, which he has a bunch of in his hand, as a free action. Near the intersection he spends 3 minutes preparing 30 more darkness stones then runs back, dropping stones again, stopping when he sees the party. At this point there should be enough darkness stones on the avenue that this demon can then assist in the ambushes. The party is not going to have any choice but to move into the darkness. There's no safer way to move.

Not sure why there isn't a time limit. You've got a cult and their leader just sitting around, waiting in the last room of the dungeon for the party to come kill them? Not even... performing some ritual to bring eternal night or sacrifice a farmer's daughter?

Oh, there's a time limit. But the babau and the cultists don't know about it. The cult leader is after an object, an artifact jewel, at the center of the city. The babau are, I think, mostly there to slow the party down so that they don't get to her before she gets to the artifact. However, the party knows that in about 53 hours those canals of molten gold are suddenly going to spill over and flood the entire underground ruined city and the doors that allow entry and exit from the city are going to close and lock and the cult leader is the only one with the key. So, while the babau don't know they have a time limit, the party won't have to be hurried up by the babau.

Additional question: Don't the babau need to know what items are magical in order to cast Dispel Magic on them? It makes sense to target armor or weapons but how are they supposed to know what other items are magical? It seems like Dispel Magic is better used to end ongoing spells in this case.

D'oh! How did I miss that Dispel Magic can be used on flying, even on the kineticist!

Darkness: Throwing darkness stones all over the avenue might be a good idea if it causes the party to take an alternate series of avenues that doubles their travel time and forces them to cross 2 of the summoning traps instead of 1. Although, they might just wait the spell out. Ryze Kuja, you're right about them not being forced into a time limit. The instructions are to attack the party, so they are going to be very patient. The babau still might try to get someone to step over the channel that activates the summoning trap, using Bull Rush or Reposition, even if they have to take an AoO.

Dispel Magic: It would be awesome to cast this on the alchemist's Bag of Holding or kineticist's Haversack while they are flying. Thank you! I have thought about trying to lure someone over the lava and cast Dispel Magic but, at this point, I'm not sure how to do that due to the layout of things. I will keep thinking on this and, if nothing else, see if I can use it during the encounter. They don't have any weapons that bypass the DR, so thankfully that's not a concern.

The Bridge: The bridge is good in that it is a covered stone bridge, well built and sturdy, with the cover 30 feet above the floor. The babau that cast darkness on itself at the very end of last session was on top of the bridge, so the party never saw it and only heard it cast darkness. My plan is to start with some darkness stones from a babau hidden beside the bridge, as you mentioned. I will keep it low, as they can't just have an unlimited amount, so maybe they have 10 or 20 prepared.

Bait: I have considered using one of the cultist's but they need to stay with their leader as they cannot rejoin her due to another location deeper in the city. It's too bad that the babau aren't good at Bluff as I could try luring the party with a voice or sound. In a different situation, I would like the use of someone or something that really means something to the party but, considering that the babau are called and don't really know where they are, it seems too metagame to me. I will think about it though and maybe change my mind. I really do want to lure someone over the lava canal though.

Again, thank you very much. Tactics are my big weakness as a DM and I'm so glad you are all so helpful.

Zagig wrote:

So, here's what I did or am going to do. The party has reached the babau encounter.

The intersections used to have illusions of piles of gold in them. Since this is the seemingly easiest treasure to get, past groups have found this out and dispelled the illusion.

The two northernmost traps have been trapped by Iramine so that if the party goes around the intersection, the trap drops gold stones on the channel, setting off the trap.
The other option, and one I'm considering, is that the babau, hunting the party instead of just attacking at the bridge, set off the trap on purpose.

Perception DC is 30 for the trap, so the party will probably not notice the first one and may not notice the others. I would be good with them only setting off one.

The babau tactic won't work as "The fire elemental always attacks the first PC who triggered the trap, pursuing him throughout the city."

Whom does the elemental attack if an object, say a piece of gold plated stone from a ruined building, crosses over the channel?

So, here's what I did or am going to do. The party has reached the babau encounter.

The intersections used to have illusions of piles of gold in them. Since this is the seemingly easiest treasure to get, past groups have found this out and dispelled the illusion.

The two northernmost traps have been trapped by Iramine so that if the party goes around the intersection, the trap drops gold stones on the channel, setting off the trap.
The other option, and one I'm considering, is that the babau, hunting the party instead of just attacking at the bridge, set off the trap on purpose.

Thank you for all the suggestions everyone.

Life has been busy and I haven't had time to respond but I have been seriously thinking about what all of you suggested during the week.

Hunt/Hit and Run: The idea of a hunt kind of makes sense. In fact, the party is likely to set off a trap later, if they don't the babau will, that summons an elder fire elemental which would be a good time for the babau to full out attack. Their instructions are to attack anyone that reaches the babau location, which was at a covered stone bridge over a canal of molten gold.

Dispel Magic: They aren't likely to be using dispel magic very much due to the party composition (alchemist, fighter, kineticist, cleric) unless the cleric starts casting more than is typical but it's something I have to watch for, especially once the party sets off the summoning trap.

Darkness: They should get a lot of use out of darkness. The whole area, ruined city, that they are in is normally in dim light. They will know automatically that the dwarf has darkvision and a few attack rounds should tell them that the kineticist has limited darkvision. Its been mentioned that they could carry rocks with darkness cast on them but the spell only lasts 7 minutes so I will need to monitor this for any casting that the party might hear, if they have to cast after getting close to the party.

Summon: I think the babau will summon as soon as possible. The party will reach the entrance to the inner part of the city in about an hour at normal exploring pace. While the babau can teleport into the inner part of the city, their best odds are, I think, in the outer city so summoning right now makes sense.

Protective Slime: No effect on the magical weapons that will likely come into play for this. The kineticist has a longsword but she never does melee attacks.

So, this first attack will last a few rounds while they summon and assess the party strength and abilities. I plan to use their Acrobatics to keep 10 feet away and try to get AoOs. Flanking won't matter when they attack the alchemist or cleric, as both would be blinded in the darkness and I'm thinking that these two would be the first targets due to the marching order that has those two back to back on one side of the group, with the dwarf fighter and kineticist on the other side. Then, all 4 will teleport a little ways away, relying on Stealth to stay hidden, although the kineticist's +21 Perception makes being spotted a possibility. I could see 2 babau, with darkness on them, drawing the party to them while staying behind cover, allowing the other 2 to attack from the rear or side. That's only going to work once so they will have to come up with ever-changing tactics. Perhaps they could hide off to one side a ways and throw a darkness stone at the group then teleport in to attack. I don't think they'd steal items, provoking an AoO due to having to be within 5 feet, but they could use their longspear to disarm and then take off with weapons or shields.

Challenge 1: The alchemist has access to the fly spell but the babau can, hopefully, wait for that to expire. The kineticist can fly much longer. I think the babau would have no choice but to avoid attacking her while she's flying but multiple areas of darkness, using stones with the spell cast on them, could help them avoid her attacks.

Challenge 2: The babau have a limited amount of time in which to attack the party. It won't take them long, about half an hour at normal adventuring pace, to reach the trap I mentioned. The babau are going to have to work fast.

Question: Could you suggest other tactics that the babau might use? The party basically has to follow a 40 foot wide avenue, with a ruined city seemingly made of gold around them that is incredibly difficult to get through, from the bridge to the summoning trap approximately a half hour walk away.

they still threaten with their bites into adjacent squares

Thank you for mentioning this as I didn't think of it.

I've got 2 babau demons about to attack the party. 1 just cast darkness on its weapon, letting the party see the globe of darkness around it. Combat begins next game session. What are some good babau tactics?

Just put the item in something... Darkness goes away

Thank you for mentioning this. I was going to reply that they wouldn't do that during combat. Then I started thinking about the PCs. I realize that 3 of the 4 PCs have alternative attacks and the 4th is a dwarf so darkness won't affect him. The creature cast darkness on its own longspear before combat but maybe casting darkness on the PCs isn't such a good idea after all.

If you hit that, its dark, but your opponent probably saw what you touched (sleight of hand check maybe), and can just take that item and chuck it 20+ft away.

The creature will already have cast darkness on their own weapon so I think the PC would have to make a Spellcraft check in order to tell what spell it is. However, after the creature moves away from the PC, it will likely be obvious what the effect is.

As for throwing the item away, I doubt that the PC would throw away their magic shield or weapon.

I've done a search on the subject and I can't find an answer. Is there an official answer to the question of whether you can use a touch spell that targets an object and place it on an attended object with a melee touch attack?

Specifically, I'm wondering if a creature can cast darkness and then use a melee touch attack to apply the darkness spell to an opposing PCs weapon or shield or some other object. If there's no official word on this, what would be the general consensus on this idea?

So, wait, is the canal just a square box around the intersection or are there canals running the length of the avenues and then they make right angles to join together with the canal coming from the other avenue before the intersection?

Because if it's the former, yeah, that is weird.

If it's the latter, then you'd activate the trap by trying to enter the ruins to bypass the intersections anyway.

Zagig wrote:

Why would you put a trap down that he is so, so easy to bypass. Especially when the idea is to convince people to leave the city and when these traps were designed by Tar-Baphon: someone who is really, really powerful.

If the purpose of the trap is to help convince people to leave the city, rather than just kill everyone, it would make sense to allow people a way to bypass the trap, but only if they're heading towards the desired exit.

The canal I'm talking about, let's call it a channel instead so it doesn't sound like the same thing, forms a square around the intersection. The channel is separate from the canals.

I wish you could see the diagram in the adventure. The channel, runes inscribed in it, forms a square around the intersection, with ruins drawn at all four of the corners of the intersection. Unless there is some kind of barrier at the corners blocking access to the ruins, which isn't mentioned in the adventure, anyone could literally just walk around the intersection, in to or out of the city.

I had another thought. Instead of hiding the trap, put something in the middle of the trap that they would want. So, they have to set off the trap in order to get it. The adventure is a little lean on treasure and I was going to add some magic items for them anyway. Plus, there is a trapped pile of gold later in the adventure so the idea of trapped treasure is kind of already established in the adventure.

Now I just need to figure out what magic items would grab their attention from 50 ft away that they would be willing to set off a trap in order to obtain.

IIRC there is a time limit, but not a super time-crunch. However I experienced the module a player, not a GM.

You are correct, there is a time limit but it's not too difficult to make it out of the city in that time.

Like it takes forever to get through the ruins when there is a nice open 'totally not trapped' path to follow.

I don't think I could justify the kind of time it would have to take to get through the ruins and around the intersection in order to make it really inconvenient. They have 66 hours, with 2 eight hour rests in that time, to get to the center of the city and out again.

I can safely say that my players would probably trigger the first one--I don't do a lot of stuff on my games that encourages paranoid, overly cautious play. Not a fan of "gotcha'!" moments-- and then avoid the rest.

My players are just cautious enough that they would decide to walk around something that COULD BE a trap.

But these super-intricate details remind me of AD&D-style dungeon crawls, which...were really boring? I mean, as far as an actual narrative goes.

It is pretty much a dungeon crawl with no narrative. I'm hoping to add some improv narrative as we go.

Maybe if there were a few other equally unusual and specific things going on at the intersections, it would be less obvious?

That's a good idea. I was considering having the entire intersection contain runes instead of just the channels.

I think the idea is in the right direction; traps should be telegraphed so an alert party that recognizes patterns should be able to avoid them after they see a couple in action.

Unfortunately, unless they really act out of character, they are unlikely to see any of them in action. Plus, the way the trap is designed just doesn't make sense to me. Why would you put a trap down that he is so, so easy to bypass. Especially when the idea is to convince people to leave the city and when these traps were designed by Tar-Baphon: someone who is really, really powerful.

Since it's a magic trap, you can have it go off with a proximity trigger of 30ft (or more) if you want.

That's not a bad idea. There is an alarm spell that triggers the summoning trap when someone crosses over one of the channels. I could just make the alarm spell range out an extra 20 feet.

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread but I don't understand the intersection traps either. According to the diagram, the party doesn't have to wander through the ruins in order to walk around the trap, they simply have to walk an extra 15 feet or so. So, what's to stop them from doing this every time, just in case the channel is a trap?

So I am trying to figure out how the intersection traps work in Xin-Grafar, the city on the Isle of Terror in the module The City of Golden Death. If you don't know the module I will explain how the traps are set up.

The avenues of the city, each 40 feet wide, are clear of debris making them the logical route to use to go through the city. There are 8 intersections in the city where 4 avenues meet in a cross formation. The area off of the avenues and intersections is the ruined city itself made up of collapsed buildings and destroyed furniture and the like.

The trap itself consists of a small canal, I'm thinking maybe an inch wide by an inch deep with runes carved into it. The canal runs across each avenue about 5 feet before entering the intersection. Due to that location, the canal also runs 5 feet into the ruins on either side of the avenue so that it can make a 90 degree turn and cross the next avenue that leads into the intersection. Once a party member crosses the canal, a summoning trap is activated with the creature appearing and attacking the person who set off the trap.

Could someone please explain to me why anybody would build a trap like this? Is there any party in existence that, even if they don't know for sure it's a trap, goes around it?
The trap only goes 5 ft into the ruins of the city. It costs the party 15 to 30 feet of extra movement to go around the intersection.

Now, my party is level 9 and I've been adapting the encounters as we've gone through this module. My plan is to make this a Summon Monster VIII spell so the Perception DC is 33. However, I've got one character who's got a +21 Perception check at this point. Even on the off chance that he doesn't make the Perception check to realize that this is a trap, the party would choose the safe option and just go around.

Wouldn't it be easy to cover the canals with an illusion? Maybe even add a Nondetection spell so that the trap is harder to find. This way no one knows the canals are there unless they actively search and succeed on a Perception check.

Sure, after the first intersection the party will go around ALL of the other intersections. That's okay. I may even choose to expand the area of the trap with each successive intersection or add traps around the edges of the trap area. But the way the trap is currently designed makes no sense to me at all.

So I am trying to figure out how the intersection traps work in Xin-Grafar, the city on the Isle of Terror in the module The City of Golden Death . If you don't know the module I will explain how the traps are set up.

The avenues of the city, each 40 feet wide, are clear of debris making them the logical route to use to go through the city. There are 8 intersections in the city where 4 avenues meet in a cross formation. The area off of the avenues and intersections is the ruined city itself made up of collapsed buildings and destroyed furniture and the like.

The trap itself consists of a small canal, I'm thinking maybe an inch wide by an inch deep with runes carved into it. The canal runs across each avenue about 5 feet before entering the intersection. Due to that location, the canal also runs 5 feet into the ruins on either side of the avenue so that it can make a 90 degree turn and cross the next avenue that leads into the intersection. Once a party member crosses the canal, a summoning trap is activated with the creature appearing and attacking the person who set off the trap.

Could someone please explain to me why anybody would build a trap like this? Is there any party in existence that, even if they don't know for sure it's a trap, goes around it?
The trap only goes 5 ft into the ruins of the city. It costs the party 15 to 30 feet of extra movement to go around the intersection.

Now, my party is level 9 and I've been adapting the encounters as we've gone through this module. My plan is to make this a Summon Monster VIII spell so the Perception DC is 33. However, I've got one character who's got a +21 Perception check at this point. Even on the off chance that he doesn't make the Perception check to realize that this is a trap, the party would choose the safe option and just go around.

Wouldn't it be easy to cover the canals with an illusion? Maybe even add a Nondetection spell so that the trap is harder to find. This way no one knows the canals are there unless they actively search and succeed on a Perception check.

Sure, after the first intersection the party will go around ALL of the other intersections. That's okay. I may even choose to expand the area of the trap with each successive intersection or add traps around the edges of the trap area. But the way the trap is currently designed makes no sense to me at all.

Hmmm

I thought there was a once size fits all solution for this but I guess not. I will provide details.

Party composition: Level 9, Cleric with Good and Heal domains, Fighter (Shielded archetype), Alchemist/Master Chymist, Aether Kineticist.

I am running the City of Golden Death module, modified and upgraded for my campaign. In entering the city itself, the party first enters a kind of map room. Through a doorway out of the map room is a walkway or roadway that is 40 feet wide and an undefined length ending at a bridge, 30 feet wide and 60 feet long, crossing a river of gold. The city is on the other side of the bridge and the bridge is the only way into the city. The whole area is in dim light due to green phosphorescent algae on the ceiling. On the bridge is supposed to be a guardian. I want to replace the original Golden Guardian with a Juggernaut with the Fiery Template but it's domain powers removed. Either creature is going to have the same problem I mentioned above. The party will see them and, between the kineticist's kinetic blast, the alchemist's bombs, the fighters bow and the clerics spells, they can just stand back in the map room and snipe it with ranged attacks.

I have any number of options as, in my campaign, the entire city was once occupied by an ancient group of very powerful beings known as the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. In leaving a guardian to protect their city, they would have considered that someone could stand back and take pot shots at their guardian and come up with a way to counter it. I'm just not sure what would be a good counter for this situation.

I do like the idea of an alarm spell when the party enters the map room. Upon consideration, the module does not specify that there are doors between the map room and the bridge area so if I make that a 20 foot wide doorway, the juggernaut could get through it to attack the party anywhere. If the juggernaut sits at the close end of the bridge and the walkway is only 40 feet long, it could get to anyone in the doorway in one round and roll over them.

I don't know how to search for this, so if it's been asked and answered before, I apologize.

Theoretical situation.
There is a creature guarding a hallway, it doesn't matter what creature it is.
There is no way around it, the party has to go through it to get into the rest of the dungeon.
There is a door that the party has to go through in order to enter the hallway.
The creature is tasked, magically or by its superiors, to guard this hallway and attack anyone who enters this hallway.
The party, realizing that the creature is just going to attack them as soon as they enter the hallway, do not enter the hallway and instead take ranged attacks from outside the doors until the creature is dead.

In an alternate situation, the creature has ranged attacks and attacks them whenever they open the door but it has limited ranged attacks and the party works together so that one person closes the door after every ranged attack by the PCs.

How do you solve this? Is there some kind of warding spell that prevent the party from attacking the creature unless they are in the hallway? Let's say the creature is a construct; does that make it easier? Is there any difference if the hallway were a bridge instead?

Now, you are saying that the creature could charge and attack the party as soon as they begin attacking the creature. However, how far do you take that? The party keeps moving away through hallways, rooms, tunnels, caves, even outside, continuing to use ranged attacks. The creature never really gets close enough to use it's attacks.

Okay, here's what happened about 24 hours ago.

I had the 3 lizardfolk approach the party. The Berserker couldn't hide hardly at all so he approached openly with the 2 stalkers hidden. The party was more than willing to talk and, after a bit of talking about the cultists, the lizardfolk began collecting their dead while the party searched the cultists for gear.

Unfortunately, here's where things went wrong, although it was only due to dumb luck. The only PC who got near the water was the alchemist, who is the only PC who has a weapon, bombs, he can use while grappled.

One of the giants surprised the party, grappled the alchemist and pulled him into the water. The other two giants started sniping and throwing rocks, hitting the fighter and the cleric. Now, as I say, the alchemist was able to use his bombs even in that water and grappled. He knew not to use fire bombs so he used cold bombs instead. He would have eventually defeated the giant no matter what. However, with two critical hits on the alchemist's turn the giant was toast on the second round of combat. The giant didn't get to much other than just pull the alchemist into the water before it was dead.

With that out of the picture, the other two giants, 120 feet away to throw rocks and Stealth each round, didn't last long. One of the lizardfolk stalkers actually did the kill shot on the second giant before it got to run. The third giant tried to run, but the party had enough ranged attacks to kill it before it got away.

All in all, it was a fun encounter for me and I think they all enjoyed it. If the giant had grappled anyone but the alchemist, it would have been much more dangerous. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

I like the suggestion of hampering mud balls. It's a dank murky swamp, give them a random roll on what they pull up to throw

Good idea. I could have used that last night. I just had them throw fossilized logs, broken trees and stumps.

You may want to think about the RP side. Why did the cultists and lizardfolk fight?
Did any cultists escape, how many?
What clues are left on the cultists? Any significant possessions etc
Do the lizardfolk have a village nearby? Can the party rest there?
Are the Marsh giants part of a local tribe? If so what is the relationship between the giants and the lizardfolk? Is there a side adventure to drive the tribe away.
Can the lizardfolk act as guides through the swamp?
Is there a boat or raft available?

I'm adapting the City of Golden Death module to my own campaign world. I've been planting little things here and there since the party finished Crypt of the Everflame. This is going to end up being the final adventure of the campaign as one of my players is leaving. In fact, we are playing online instead of in person so that he can play and finish the campaign.

So, I know the answers to most of those questions. I will consider the lizardfolk to marsh giant relationship for tonight although it probably won't come up. Players always surprise you though.

One other thing I'm going to add is poison. There is a lake nearby filled with poisonous water (the Whispering Lake in the module). Both the marsh giants and lizardfolk have developed an immunity over many years of evolution. However, this means that their natural weapons are now laced with this poison, Waters of the Whispering River. The official material says its a contact poison but I changed it to an ingested or injury poison as it's pretty deadly already.

Hopefully, tomorrow I can let you know how it went.

Thank you Hugo Rune!! I love what you have offered me. Thank you so much. I think I do have enough to make this a memorable encounter tonight.

35 dead creatures is a minimum of 35 squares, assuming one per square, as I mentioned earlier I would make the battleground it a 100' square, ie 400 squares, a 200' square would be better stil.

Now I just need a 200' square swamp map that I can use in Owlbear Rodeo.

I'm so curious why you need to know this.

I'm running an adaptation of The City of Golden Death with Level 9 characters, two of whom can fly. I'm wondering how high they could fly and what they could see.

Hi Zagig

Hopefully by now you should have enough ideas to develop an interesting encounter.

A large encounter area with many items of interest, i.e. the dead combatants that will draw the party's attention and potentially split them apart.

A set of weak/insignificant opponents to distract the party (and the players) from the true threat, i.e. the low CR scavengers

Terrain that provides a genuine challenge for movement and one where the enemy has a distinct homefield advantage

A method for the enemy to approaching unseen, i.e. deeper water channels running through the swamp.

A set of battle tactics that will challenge the players, i.e. a drowning and fantastic cover for the enemy

An escape route for the enemy should the battle turn against them.

I wouldn't add additional surprises like the exploding/poisonous gas clouds. I think the one giant drowning a character and the other running interference is probably enough. That is a CR10 encounter, throw in the low CR scavengers and you're probably up to CR11 and have a budget of 12800XP to play with.

Thank you. I always spend a lot of time building encounters because I'm not good at tactics and I need to research so many rules.

I'm going to start with a battle scene of 9 dead cultists and about 24 dead lizardfolk. There should be a channel of water 4 feet deep (a deep bog) near the battle site for 1 giant to hide in. 120 feet in the opposite direction, hiding in another deep bog, will be another giant. 3 lizardfolk stalkers (Rgr2) are also hiding about 100 feet away. As the PCs are checking the battle site, the giant in the water has to act in a surprise round in order to grapple against flat footed AC. However, as soon as he goes, he makes enough noise for the rock throwers and lizardfolk to also go on the surprise round.

Now the entire island is in dim light so the longbows and rocks won't hit as often but neither will the PCs. Once the giant grapples whomever is closest on the surprise round, he uses his first round to take his opponent back into the water. The dim light will allow the rock thrower and lizardfolk to attack and then attempt Stealth checks at a -20 penalty but a bonus for distance.

The grappler needs to make a grapple check each round and then can Swim 20 feet. He gains a +4 AC bonus being underwater.

I'm not sure when to use the fog cloud ability though.

Not a problem Zagig, either throwing a rock or summoning a fog cloud is a standard action. Giants don't generally get full attacks with rocks.

My apologies for not being clear. The giant gets to stand and throw on its surprise round, then throw and crouch on its first round. Basically, it only gets to crouch every other round, meaning the kineticist could probably wipe it out quickly.

Unless the kineticist is the one grappled. We have discovered that the kineticist is in real trouble in a grapple situation, so I guess the augury spells would have the marsh giants target her first. I hate to seem like I'm picking on someone though.

It is the fighter or the cleric that gets snatched

The fighter has a 31 CMD and the cleric a 24 CMD. It would be hard to get a grapple on either one in the first place.

The giants could snipe with thrown rocks from the water. Throw a rock and then duck down to get another and enjoy total cover in the process.

Unfortunately, it's a move action to crouch.

Medium or larger creatures can crouch as a move action to gain this improved cover.

Bog/Marsh/Swamp Terrain

I have read the details on the Isle of Terror in the City of Golden Death module. However, one detail it does not contain is how low the black clouds over the island sit. Are they a mile up? 2 miles? Closer?

Party composition: Level 9, Cleric with Good and Heal domains, Fighter (Shielded archetype), Alchemist/Master Chymist, Aether Kineticist.

The party is going to be crossing through a swamp. The alchemist and kineticist can fly so both of them may be flying as they go through the swamp. They are chasing after a cult and it's leader. My plan is for the party to come upon a battle scene, where there are dead cultists and dead creatures that inhabit the marsh. I could use lizardfolk but this party would just wipe them out and wouldn't be threatened. I'm going to use marsh giants since marsh giants are more likely to really put a scare into them, especially with the curse ability. So, while they are checking out the battle scene, the remaining marsh giants, 2 or 3 in number, are going to attack. I'm having a challenge figuring out how they are going to be able to sneak up on the party though. If the party sees them coming, the aether kineticist and the alchemist can do a lot of damage at range and the giants won't get much of a chance to attack before they are destroyed. I'm not very good at tactics, so I could really use some suggestions.

My first thought is that 90 damage is too high for a CR:9 party. Sure the Barbarian will be fine but the wizard won't. If you're actually following the rules for HARM then it can't take them below 1HP, so it's not going to 1-shot anyone which means you can deal more damage without making it unfair.

The other thing is that I think the destruction condition could be a bit more lenient:
- does the body have to be burried or can it be burned? Does simply performing a funeral ceremony cover this? I'd be lenient if the players do something unusual (like a viking funeral)
- I'd probably allow the bloodstained tiles to be cleaned and/or sanctified in some way, rather than having to burn them. Again this is more about being open to player creativity.

Otherwise, how does the "transfixed" portion of the Haunt work? You could give a Will save to avoid that. How long does it last for? How helpless are they while watching? You don't need to answer these questions but they're something to think about.

My intention was to duplicate the Harm spell so I will add this line.

As for destruction, considering that the NPC, before the curse that changed her alignment, followed the same Faith as the cleric, I'd be okay with a simple funeral ceremony and some method of cleaning the blood.

Btw, how do the players figure out what to do to destroy the haunt? I didn't see anything about that in the rules I looked at.

I guess, for fairness, I should add a Will save to not be transfixed but that means the cleric will almost certainly succeed on that check. Maybe I should make it a high DC, like the perception check, around 30? I just want to make sure that they see this scenario through to the end as I'd like them to see what happened to the NPC and set up the fact that the cult leader now has the cursed magic item.

They are basically going to be paralyzed for about 30 seconds to a minute while this ghostly scenario plays out. The location is isolated so they're not going to be interrupted by anything while this happens.

This is a campaign I'm running in Greyhawk. The party is Level 9 consisting of a cleric (Good and Life domains), a fighter (shielded fighter), an alchemist/Master Chymist, and an aether kineticist. The cleric had gotten to know a Good NPC that adventured solo. However, this NPC found a cursed magic item and, due to an alignment change when putting it on, joined an evil cult. The party is chasing this cult and they are about to come upon this NPC's body. The cult leader murdered the NPC in order to obtain the cursed magic item. I wanted to have a haunt on the NPC's body both to provide a challenge and to show what happened to the NPC. This is what I came up with. Did I do it right and will it be effective?

NPC Betrayed (CR 9)

XP 6,400; NE haunt (the interior of the tower, a circle of 40 foot radius); Caster Level 9th; Notice Perception DC 30 (Once the scenario showing the NPC's betrayal and murder begins, the party is transfixed watching it; hp 18; Trigger touch; Reset 1 hour
Effect
When the body of the NPC is touched, a ghostly scenario begins that shows their murder. When the NPC is murdered in the scenario, the person who triggered the effect takes 90 points of negative energy damage as if affected by the [i]harm[i] spell. The damage is reduced to 45 points of negative energy damage if the target makes a successful DC 19 Will save.
Destruction
The NPC's body must be buried and the bloodstained tiles that make up the floor of the ruined tower in which she was killed must be destroyed.

Okay, this is going to go a bit long. My apologies.

In the City of Greyhawk box set for AD&D 2e, there is a group detailed called the Shapechangers. They kidnap adventurers and newcomers and then polymorph them into other types of creatures, primarily elves, then butcher them. The reason they do this is for money. There is an alchemist at the Wizards Guild willing to pay for the special ingredients needed to make certain potions without asking questions. Remember this is AD&D 2e, where making any magical item usually involved a quest for special ingredients. Potions of giant strength required giant body parts. Potions of longevity required elf blood and body parts.

I really like the idea but I can't figure out how to get it to work under Pathfinder rules.

Potions of longevity aren't in the rules but I can add them in as an ultra rare item. The kidnapped creatures will be unconscious when they are polymorphed which, according to rules, means they are willing. As soon as the polymorph takes place, the kidnapped persons are killed so that the new form can be harvested for parts by the alchemist.

BUT

PoA does not say that the Type of the creature changes. I know it says somewhere that polymorph does NOT change the type of the creature being polymorphed.

Would it break the game in any way to houserule that Polymorph Any Object changes the Type of the creature being polymorphed?

I have been searching everywhere for answers to two questions and can't find them anywhere.

First, in #5-23, Cairn of Shadows, the agents are supposed to recover the shadow obelisk. However, as soon as they take it out of the cairn, it "fades away like smoke."

Then, in #6-02, Nigel uses the shadow obelisk to reshape and remake the Blakros Museum. Where did he get the obelisk if it faded away?

Second question. Are the powers of the obelisk actually detailed anywhere? I know about Nigel's use of it, obviously, and that Hamaria later uses it to send agents to the Shadow Realm but is there actually any detailed write up of what the shadow obelisk can do?

Okay, so this might be a bit of a specialized request and I know that it might not get much traction.

I am looking for an island adventure for around 10th level characters, although if I find the right adventure of a higher level I can always adjust either my campaign or the adventure.

However, I don't want just any island adventure. I need and island adventure that feels like something that an epic ancient group might have used in the ancient past.

Background: My campaign is set in the World of Greyhawk. I'm thinking of introducing and island that appears and disappears irregularly. It was once held by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. There is an elven NPC that has visited there once about 100 years ago and is waiting for it to reappear so that she can return. My original idea was to use the City of Golden Death adventure and just adapt it for a higher level but that could be a pretty big undertaking.

However, if I can find a higher level island adventure that has an epic feel to it, I would consider doing that instead.

Does anyone have any suggestions, Paizo or 3pp?

Okay, one of my players wants to build a mercenaries guildhall. Using the Ultimate Campaign rules, we have figured out what rooms she wants and how much it will cost. She wants to hire as many construction teams as possible to build this as quickly as possible. I have figured out that she is building 23 rooms, but by combining rooms it would take 15 teams to build the building in the shortest time possible, which is 30 days. She is going to be building near a city of only 59,000.

My question is about cost. Do you think that a city this size would be able to easily provide 15 construction teams to build this building all at once? Do you think there would be any additional costs?

I know that a lot of this is up to me as the GM. However, I would like to know what others think in order to help shape my decision.

Would you rule that the extradimensional spaces of certain magic items get shut down by the planar locking? That is they become sealed when you step into the Shadow Prison?

I know it's a late answer but I also wanted to know myself.

The scenario specifically says that conjuration (summoning) spells are not affected. Both bags of holding and handy haversacks are conjuration (summoning) items. However, a portable hole is a conjuration (teleportation) item. Thus, I would say a portable hole is not accessible in the Shadow Prison.

Fetchlings refer to themselves as kayal.

OMG I didn't realize they were the same thing!!!! That fits in perfectly because the group has briefly met Malik Al-Kayal aka The King of Shadows. Thank you for that.

Not really anything that's not covered by other scenarios I think, other than the commonality of fetchings among their ranks originating from Blakros daughters.

As mentioned before 10-18 The Daughter's Due is big on the storyline.

The daughters becoming fetchlings was something I had already decided that I definitely wanted to incorporate, based on other threads I had read on 2-11 although I didn't realize it had actually been spelled out.

It's been quite some time, and I don't think there's a huge amount of background info. I do remember most of them being fetchlings. What sort of info are you looking for, maybe I can help.

Background information is mostly what I'm looking for actually. I ran #2-11 in my home game and was just wondering if there was more information about the group that I could incorporate into my home game.

Besides The Penumbral Accords, what scenarios have the Onyx Alliance in them?

One of my players wants to build a guildhall for their mercenary company. He's taken the Leadership feat and will soon have a cohort and some followers. They are in a large city that generally has lots of adventurers.

He's calculated the cost of the building at about 8,000 gold using the room costs in UC. It's my understanding that this includes furniture, doors and windows and possibly the cost of the land as well.

This seems really cheap to me for such a big building. Okay, I know it's not going to be the 100,000 gold or so that it would have cost in AD&D 1e. I feel like we're missing something here that should make it more expensive. Is this correct?

If this calculation is correct, maybe I should just skip using the UC building rules and decide on my own how much it would cost. Have you found the UC building rules work really well for your campaign?

I am running a campaign where I am trying to use nothing but Pathfinder Society Scenarios for the adventures. This isn't a PFS campaign, it's just something we wanted to try. However, I am having to adapt the scenarios for higher level parties as we go through the campaign, currently at 8th level. I know, I could have picked something more level appropriate but I like the Blakros scenarios and I'm trying to use them to keep somewhat of a running campaign thread going.

Anyway, I have to adapt the Penumbral Accords to a level 8 party consisting of a Human Aether Kineticist, a Dwarf Fighter focusing on Shield Bashing, a Human Cleric focused on healing, and an Elf Alchemist going for the Master Chymist Prestige Class. We are not adventuring in Golarion but that doesn't change the adventure mechanics at all.

Here's my ideas so far.

Use a Mohrg with the Advanced template for the Skeletal Guardian in area 1

Use and Advanced Shadow Ice Golem for the Cold Storage Sentinel in area 2. Use the rules for Slick Ice from the Paizo Blog

Give Mazzel Gol 2 more levels of alchemist in area 3. Increase the strength of his magical ring and cloak to +2

Increase the number of guards to 4 and make them Slavers (fighter 2/rogue 2) from the GMG in area 4

Leave the shadow hound as is in area 5

Give Uthil Mak 2 assistants, perhaps Bladed Fists. Make Uthil Mak an unchained monk. Increase the strength of his magical bracers and cloak to +2 in area 7

Tactics. One of the guards in area 4 go and release the hound in area 5 when they are attacked. In area 7, the assistants will try to run interference so the Uthil Mak can complete the ritual.

Treasure. Other than the gear I have listed, I'm not increasing the treasure. The party, as mercenaries, is being awarded with a manor worth about 15,000 gold for doing this mission.

I wanted to put this out there to see if anyone had any better ideas for how to increase the challenges of this scenario.

One thing I am curious about is why the black pudding did not attack the gibbering mouther?

Because I didn't think of that. This is a Season 0 PFS scenario so apparently I wasn't the only one who missed that. Now it makes even more sense to move the black pudding to another room.

Couple of things here.

First off, a black pudding is Huge. On a 15 foot ceiling, it'd reach all the way to the floor. It should have been impossible for the players to move directly underneath it without entering its space unless it was a smaller variant or some other special situation applied. It'd also be hard to miss since it isn't really appreciably "above" the players.

OMG!! I was thinking it was 15'x5'!!! There is no way they would miss seeing it. I'm going to have to move it to a different room. Obviously, it will move to attack as soon as they open the door. I also realize it's difficult enough as it is without adding being able to hide.

The players entered a room with a gibbering mouther hiding behind some boxes on one side of the room and a black pudding on the ceiling on the other side of the room.
The room has a 15 foot ceiling. Theyy dealt with the gibbering mouther just fine. Since the black pudding only has a 10 foot reach, I figured that they would have to be directly underneath it in order for it to reach them from the ceiling. However, no one actually moved directly under it.

That's where we ended the session.

Should I have been rolling Perception checks for the players and a Stealth check for the black pudding? If I did that they would see it easily with its Dex of 1. Does it just naturally hide until it moves to attack? If I can't explain why they couldn't see it, I think my players may be upset.

While the INT boost would be nice (better than my headband) I agree that Tatsuo would probably get more use out of it.

I'm sorry that I didn't include more details.

The mist is the magical mist from the Mists of Mwangi Pathfinder Society scenario.

The scarves are just normal scarves.

They don't have time to go find special items.

I am going to be running an adventure next game session where the characters are going to be covering their mouths with scarves in order to avoid breathing in a magical mist. I'm wondering what would happen when it comes to swallowing potions and other liquids though. Do I make them pull the scarves down, exposing themselves to the mist, when they need to do this or do I let them drink potions through the scarf?