Zethorn's page

We were given the choice of multiple campaigns and decided to go with Legacy of Fire. The current group in Book 1 is:

Sharabell -- a human brawler that just escaped the slave pits.
Na'afi -- a human wizard and follower of Abadar.
Sirroc -- a cleric of Sarenrae (race hidden for role-play purposes)
Nicci -- a paladin of Sarenrae just arrived from Absolom in search of her past
Shamas -- a Suli Druid who had also just escaped slavery
Storg -- A Gnome Oracle of Sarenrae (played by me).

Yes, there is a theme but none of the players were aware of what the others were created before the first session. It made for a cool first meet 'n greet.

My GM tends to change encounters/material from the original text as we have both a large and experienced group. So, I won't pay much attention to the spoilers but always interested in seeing how the players react and how your campaign flows.

Thank you for sharing these. My group was supposed to start LoF but we have had delays due to health issues and Corona Virus. I will be sitting on my first level character for a bit, but glad to see someone else having fun.

That is great feedback! Glad to hear from both the GM and players on their thoughts of the game. My group is still playing through it but hoping to have as much fun as you did.

Anytime! If you're playing, then I hope that you're having as much fun with it as I am.

Return takes place several years after the Rise campaign. There are references back to the original to pay homage, but not necessary to play in the original to cruise through this adventure.

I won't tell you that you're imagining that, but do not remember seeing that as a blog or forum post. If anyone finds it, I'd love to look at it, too!

My group has just started Book 3 and up through that point, there were a few scenes where having a social character or a party face would have been helpful, but not necessarily detrimental.

We had a player who changed characters around early Book 2 to one that has the capabilities, but just doesn't want to do the talking. We fixed this by my character taking the prestige class, Horizon Walker, and took Urban for Terrain Mastery (which gives a +4 to Diplomacy). Even with a Charisma of 10, I took a level to buff up ranks in the social skills to make up for it.

Since you asked not to put in spoilers, I will just say that just like any adventure path, there are some encounters where it will help, but a creative group (and GM) can certainly work around it.

Not sure about that one, but I can ask my GM who has the book to find out for you. He did tell me around pg. 9 or 10 that there is a second on the Book 3 boost to campaign traits (use twice per book instead of one and ability score bumps), but I think that passage that you are referencing hinted at more.

I like both the premise and your tie in to the area. Two of my fellow players used the Churlwood also to flesh out their backstories. Hope that you have fun with the character in Book 1!

Name: Seraphine

Race: Azlanti (sorshen clone)
Classes/levels: Arcanist 6
Adventure: It Came From Hollow Mountain
Location: Fiendish Temple
Catalyst: Fiendish Roiling Oil
The Gory Details: After seeing that piercing damage and bludgeoning damage were ineffective, the sword (slashing) wielding barbarian threw alchemist fire on the ooze, causing it to explode and burn. Seraphine stepped up to heal a front line fighter, triggering an attack of opportunity, crit threat, confirm, 2x HP took past negative con and Seraphine was a smoldering lump on the ground.

Wow, those were some grisly deaths. Were both of them your characters or are you running the game?

Erm, without saying anything spoiler-y, having the DM replay the scene would be wise - he is correct that Baraket was not adjudicated correctly first time through.

Understand completely and thanks for keeping it spoiler-free.

Update: My GM was kind enough to raise both myself and a few other players.

In the spirit of the same post from other threads, opening up a new thread for those that have passed on during Return of the Runelords.

Character name: Valentina Luisana
Class and level: Ranger (Freebooter) level 4
Description: Died while facing Corstela within the mansion of the Order of the Resplendent Peacock. Died by spell cast from Baraket that killed her and half the party.

Before our next session, the GM decided that the ability used by the NPC was not used correctly so he wants to reply the scene. So, we have a reprieve till this upcoming Friday.

I'll keep you posted.

Update: My GM was kind enough to raise both myself and a few other players.

In the spirit of the same post from other threads, opening up a new thread for those that have passed on during Return of the Runelords.

Character name: Valentina Luisana
Class and level: Ranger (Freebooter) level 4
Description: Died while facing Corstela within the mansion of the Order of the Resplendent Peacock. Died by spell cast from Baraket that killed her and half the party.

I am playing a human ranger (freebooter) who is a twin to one of the other players.

For the Sihedron Hero, I am working on leveling my human bard (firedancer)/dragon disciple from the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign (with GM approval, of course). He is the my current character's uncle.

Zethorn wrote:

Clegg didn't make it either in the campaign that I ran for Second Darkness. We have one of the players running Return for us this round and we took a simpler method. We had Clegg have a brother who impersonated him on occasion and he was the one that was killed.

We did an introduction to Book 1 and Clegg had a bust of his brother in his place that was on display next to a plague that stated how he was killed by criminals (which was actually the party's heroes).

I thought it played homage to the original characters and players.

That's outstanding! I'm definitely going to use that in my campaign. Thanks for the excellent idea!!

You can thank the player (now, our GM) for the original idea.

Clegg didn't make it either in the campaign that I ran for Second Darkness. We have one of the players running Return for us this round and we took a simpler method. We had Clegg have a brother who impersonated him on occasion and he was the one that was killed.

We did an introduction to Book 1 and Clegg had a bust of his brother in his place that was on display next to a plague that stated how he was killed by criminals (which was actually the party's heroes).

I thought it played homage to the original characters and players.

Reckless wrote:

For anyone interested, I'm Brother Fen's GM, and these are the campaign traits I came up with before the player's guide was out:

** spoiler omitted **...

Those are quite well done, kudos. I think they would co-exist nicely alongside the Player's Guide traits too, as worth additions (while providing even more options for players).

I will wholeheartedly agree with Dracovar. I was impressed with the number of choices and overall selection.

Our spirits are finally broken.

This is my favorite comment of the day!

As for the book, it hasn't stopped my current gaming group from creating characters. Most have played in Rise of the Runelords so used that as a guide for the most part.

My players are so very eager to start this adventure path as they are just finishing up Hells Rebels and they want to jump right into Hell's Vengeance. My question is what would you folks who've played and GMed this campaign recommend I do in order to make the game run smoothly and keep interest going. In other words what would you do differently and what worked for you? I understand the importance of imparting a philosophy of cooperation and a wiliness to accept orders as a group to be very vital for this path do you folks have anything else to add for me?

It does require work for both the players and GM alike. I was lucky that we had a core group of players who played together for years. For the most part, we created characters that still had their own agendas but cooperated toward each other. After all, where's the fun with being evil if you don't have an audience who fully appreciates just how evil you can be?

For the GM, I would recommend reading the adventure ahead of time. There were some parts that were hard to justify just why the players would want to take on a task from the adventure unless you give them a good reason to. I won't put a spoiler here but there was an earlier post that I responded to for book 1 that will give you a fine example.

One last thing -- if you're used to playing heroic campaigns, it may be hard for some of the players to really embrace being evil. It's not necessarily a bad thing but there may be some actions from either within the story or by another player that may be over the top for them. Don't be afraid to talk it out or at times, gloss over the evil action if it becomes too much.

Hope your group enjoys the adventure path as much as mine.

I will agree with a rogue. A bard would also work well but noted that you already had a skald above. Using either would also provide access to a lot of enchantment spells that would be a boon to the concept.

Both my fellow players and I have written summaries of the adventures, brief histories about themselves and some out-of-session information to fill in the backstory. Alas, most of it is shared on a private group. I'll show your post to my GM to see if he's willing to help.

Adding an update -- after talking with my GM, he admitted that he made a lot of changes to the original books and added some home-brewed content to make it more challenging for our group (six players total). With that said, he had some hesitation about adding logs publically. My apologies.

It makes sense for the Order of the Rack to be featured as one of the evil iconic characters for this campaign, Linxia Benzerki, is featured. Alas, I haven't purchased the books as I am a player in the campaign but if you haven't looked into it, I would highly recommend the Pathfinder supplement, Path of the Hellknight. It provided a lot of good information about the orders and background information that might inspire some good ideas.

Good luck!

Both my fellow players and I have written summaries of the adventures, brief histories about themselves and some out-of-session information to fill in the backstory. Alas, most of it is shared on a private group. I'll show your post to my GM to see if he's willing to help.

My players immediately despised Sethic and adored the Archcountess...I kind of figured that would happen, so I might have unconsciously steered then towards the choice by playing up both of them.

Ultimately, I don't think it matters at all, though

I appreciate the feedback. So far, the party has been enjoying the alliance with the Archcountess and making Sethic's life miserable. With that said, the group is still making contingency plans should the current alliance sour.

Thank you, Hyrus!

*bump* Just checking back to see if anyone had the experience to share. Thanks!

Hi all. Going to attempt to hide the following as it might be a possible spoiler for those that haven't played this far and would like to not know more.

The organization's structure was set up as a military organization. As Sabina has served as their commander for the Gray Maidens, I would suspect that the ranks would follow suit (such as sergeant, private, etc.).

Out of curiosity, which deity?

I wasn't sure if you meant what I currently play or what I would consider for a backup character. Currently, I am playing a cleric (Asmodean Advocate) as the group needed a party face. Playing an evil barrister/lawyer is just a bonus! Of course, serving Asmodeus is a requirement for the archetype to answer your question.

The group that I play in spreads healing after combat out (wands, scrolls, etc.) which has helped. I memorize a few cure spells but been relying on Infernal Healing (both by spell and wand). Two other players have 'procured' additional healing but that's another topic.

As for the backup, that's a really good question. I haven't thought it out that far but we just hit level 9 in the current campaign so there's still time to plan it out.

Sorry to necro an older thread but if there was ever a campaign path to do so, this is certainly it! The information listed by some of the posters is valuable to those who have never played in an evil campaign before.

I actually gave a lot of thought about the Fiendish Vessel archetype but had to give it up as our group of players had too many tieflings or other races with no humans in the party. Our wizard and myself (cleric) chose to stick as humans which does make some of the encounters in this campaign slightly easier.

With that said, when death comes (and sure it will at some point), I do have the archetype above as a backup character.

Just popping to say the first session went very nicely. Quite impressed with my group! They killed the tanner and his dogs, and the old couple that came in right after cause they saw their faces. The fighter didn't buy too much into "collecting taxes at midnight" so he was a bit negative when they got called a second time but he loved the second job with the Cheliax sashes, and hopped right back in. At the gathering they just challenged the Knight. They spoke up saying she had no proof that the tanner was killed by agents of the regime and the necro started a discussion on the authenticity of the mask. The rest of the session went on without any killing either. They used non lethal on the deputies and threw them into a jail cell after accusing them of assault and treason.

I'm glad to hear that it went well. Ah the sashes -- we had fun at that meeting near the church. The group of players that I played with actually had some decent social skills and we caused a lot of disruptions. One of the funnier parts was that my character kept mispronouncing the name of the Glorious Reclamation and at one point, called it the "Glorious Flatulation" when speaking up from the crowd.

Good times!

I will also add one thing that may be perhaps more meta than some of the other suggestions.

Make sure the players buy-in to the understanding that a substantial amount of the arcs involve doing things other people tell you to do. This is not a sandbox (though a few books have some elements of it) and is possibly the second hardest railroad of the Pathfinder Adventure Paths. If the players don't buy into that style of game, you will have to do some not insubstantial rewriting.

Aren't they all railroads? ;) Just kidding and Asurie is correct. I can definitely vouch for the first three books.

Awesome, I hope that both you and your players have a great time with the campaign. We're on the cusp of finishing Book 3 and loving it.

Zethorn wrote:

Hi, just came across your post. It's a shame that the players won't read the guide as it actually included some good information but what you listed in your original post should cover what the players need. If you don't mind a few suggestions:

1) Like with a group of good guys, give them a common theme or a good guy foe that may have been involved in their separate histories. Nothing brings a group of villains together like plotting to knock off a hated enemy.

2) I played in the first book as a player and our GM didn't spin it like a common robbery but for us to recover 'back taxes' that was owed to the Archbaron and the local government. Once we recovered, we were offered a percentage -- a pretty hefty one -- when this was turned in. This seemed to satisfy the LE players in the group. In OOC, sure -- we saw it as a robbery, but it satisfied keeping the plot train rolling.

That's really helpful. They all selected characters from Longacre so (1) could very well work. And (2) is great! Much easier to get two LE characters to play along if I spin it like that!

You're welcome! If they're all from Longacre, may I suggest the Sheriff as a possible foil? It would also be a good tie in for Cimri.

Hi, just came across your post. It's a shame that the players won't read the guide as it actually included some good information but what you listed in your original post should cover what the players need. If you don't mind a few suggestions:

1) Like with a group of good guys, give them a common theme or a good guy foe that may have been involved in their separate histories. Nothing brings a group of villains together like plotting to knock off a hated enemy.

2) I played in the first book as a player and our GM didn't spin it like a common robbery but for us to recover 'back taxes' that was owed to the Archbaron and the local government. Once we recovered, we were offered a percentage -- a pretty hefty one -- when this was turned in. This seemed to satisfy the LE players in the group. In OOC, sure -- we saw it as a robbery, but it satisfied keeping the plot train rolling.

It won't ever matter in the first book, because you are quickly given authority by the duke. The second book also does not matter, because it does not take place in a Thrune controlled area. The third book does not matter because by then you are a recognized agent of Thrune and it does not take place in an urban area. By the third book, you are basically one of Abrogail's besties, and no sane person would openly give you grief about being a halfling.

I've seen complaints about being forced to start out as a petty thug and lowly mook, but you really really don't. A halfling agent of Thrune would have to work harder but she would get the respect she is due.

My group just started playing the campaign and we're in the middle of the third book. Although we have no halflings, a majority of the party are playing non-human characters including tieflings. So far, it has not been a hindrance to them and will concur with Armenius' insights so far.

With that said, the two human characters normally take the lead when speaking on behalf of the party and quickly remind anyone who does give them grief that they are Thrune agents and demand respect. Both took the campaign trait, Chelish Noble, which has been working out well. Of course, this is with dealing with those loyal to Thrune or when appropriate (not trying to infiltrate, use disguise, etc.).

Wow, the Celestial Hound is ripped! /flex

I am voting for Curse of the Crimson Throne but may actually have to do more with the fine players and GM that ran it.

Will he be a vanilla Cleric of Asmodeus, or the Asmodean Advocate archetype?

Glad to know that I wasn't the only one thinking this but pretty sure most of the iconics didn't include archetypes under PFS.

Nicely written and as always, wonderful artwork from Wayne Reynolds to match. Out of the new iconics for the Occult, I think this one is my favorite.

I'm glad to see a new tale posted before the end of the year. Really enjoyed reading this.

Just started playing in the APs as a player but currently working on:

Curse of the Crimson Throne -- on Book 5.
Rise of the Runelords -- near the end of book 4.

In two gaming groups that attempt to play bi-weekly that can meet 3-4 hours a session.

Short answer -- none but hope to change that shortly.

Most of the groups that I have played in have had a healer or taken advantage of other healing options available (potions, etc.). In the current Runelords campaign that we are running, we have two (a fighter/cleric and bard) which seem to work out well. This keeps the cleric from having to worry about healing -- as they share responsibilities -- all the time. This opens up a lot of options for him and he seems to be having fun.

Wait,.....I thought every day was Sean Appreciation Day?

SG

Well said!

These are simply wonderful. Kudos to you for having such a player in your group.

Just a reminder to anyone running this for Pathfinder Society credit, fan generated content is not considered official for determining whether a player receives full prestige or experience. That said, if it makes the event more fun for your players, have at it (as long as they know you invented those parts).

To Mark: Duly noted and thanks for the clarification.

To Casiel: Thank you for putting this together. I plan on using it for the next event to, as Mark put it, "make the event more fun for my players."

I created a wedding invitation party handout to set the mood for the intro of the module.

You can find it here.

Hey Neil, if you'd ever like to see what Fellnight looks like in full VTT glory (battlemaps, anti-aliased fog, fully stat'ed out tokens, etc), let me know and I'll throw up a Maptools server for ya. ( sozinsky at gmail dot com if interested. )

Thank you, Sozin!

I would say that any spell that doesn't scale with your class as gain in level. The spell "Sleep" has always been one that I skip past. Granted, you always have the option to swap it out later but always felt that one was a waste of known spell space -- even at early levels.

You're the GM, so you decide. I'd talk it over with the other GM too.

However, if you're asking for advice, I'd say yes, just let them spend the 3K gold to restore the negative levels during the 3 months down time. Under PF, there's no limit on the restoration, it can be cast on anyone who has negative levels. And it restores one negative level.

Since he was in 3.5 when he got them, no doubt he'll need to 'level up' to fix his character. I'd just let him level up to 8th and put his XP about midrange of whatever the rest of the group has. I'd then deduct 3000gp from his wealth. :)

Thanks for the quick response and the advice. I will talk to the other DM and the player directly.