chrisb71's page

Organized Play Member. 440 posts. 4 reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist. 1 Organized Play character.



Scarab Sages

In most campaigns players routinely see and combat evil. But not specifically serial killers or murder cults like in these scenarios. Given my love of "broken detective who has seen too much" noir, i am thinking of playing up that aspect and adding some light rules approximating ptsd.

I also sent this to the players to get their feedback before we start.

1. Firstly they are pretty inconsequential like "if fail Will save then Staggered 1d2 rounds", or Confused for 1 round, immune to beneficial or harmful mental and emotional effects for 1d4 rounds, etc. I have a short list of such effects.

2. I'd also follow the insanity rules allowing players to roll a weekly Will save to lower the DC until it goes away.

3. What I'm struggling with is how to determine initial triggering events. when the player acquires this disorder, for lack of a better word. I figure an initial Will save to see if it happens, and a few ideas for initial triggers I have are:
when reduced to 0 hp,
when they see what happens at the Dreaming Palace.
when they encounter the evils of the Skinsaw Cult.

what other places in the AP seem traumatic enough to trigger some reaction?
what should the will save DC even be?

4. finally I struggle with what triggers these small temporary debuffs.
Every time they enter combat?
when encountering a specific creature type that killed them?
when they see an npc die?
when they see x?

5. also i want to be careful to be sensitive in how it's presented. any tips for this is appreciated. I decided against adding anything re: alcoholism or drug use since some of us have that in our families. And even though half the group are vets they won't have a problem with the basic idea but more how it's treated. (We've played together for decades).

thanks.

Scarab Sages

I have a question for people using the Sanity Rules from Horror adventures.

Quote:
Sanity Threshold: Your sanity threshold is equal to the bonus of your highest mental ability score minus any ability damage to that score (minimum 0).

Does this mean it's just the bonus (including damage and penalties) from the highest score?

If so, did the just forget to write "penalty" but we should included it?

The way it's written COULD mean that you just straight out subtract damage (no penalties) from the bonus, effectively doubling ability damage as regards to sanity.

But that sounds too complicated (and harsh) to be the intent.

The same question applies to the Sanity Score.

question two
For threshold, is it just the bonus of the "highest score", or is it the highest "bonus including damage"? I.e. if you have 14 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Cha. So your threshold is 2. You take 4 points of Int damage, so you now have 14 Int (+0), 12 Wis (+1), 12 cha (+1). Is your threshold now 0? Or is it 1?
And what do you do if all 3 scores are the same if it's the 1st choice? Just pick one to base sanity on at character creation?

I'm working on the Pathfinder sheet at Roll20, so thousands of users use it, and even though it sounds like it won't come up , someone will be asking.

Scarab Sages

Looking at some of the early modules Paizo put out in Darkmoon Vale, and I'm wondering why there is a temple to Droskar on the surface? Is there a history of how and why it was built?

I have the early modules up to Hungry Are the Dead (which I am running the players through tonight) but none seem to say why a duergar god's temple is on the surface. Were they non duergar dwarves who used to worship him? If anyone knows or knows where to look please let me know!

I try to throw as much history as I can in the adventures, since my players really only know Faerun, and hope to make Golarion seem more real and enticing.

Scarab Sages

Does a character under the effect of Memory Lapse glow / exhibit some aura when someone looks at them via Detect Magic? And if so is it right away, or only after concentrating for 2 or 3 rounds to see more?

Or if not, does a different spell have to be used?
Thanks. I have to figure out if my PCs know this has been done to one of them, or how they can find out.

Scarab Sages

I just found this podcast a few weeks ago, it started in the spring. I am not affiliated with them in any way but wanted to share this as I am laughing uproariously in public and people are giving me funny looks.

Hello From the Magic Tavern is a podcast by Arnie Niecamp (arnie knee-camp) a Chicago comedian and improviser and creator of You Don't Know Jack, Adal Rafai and Matt Young.

In the spring as Arnie was going through the Burger King drive through he fell into a wormhole into the magical land of Foon. There he sits in a tavern with his new buddies Usidore the Wizard and Chunt the talking badger, he still has a slight signal that reaches the Burger King wifi, and so he does a weekly podcast sitting at the tavern where he talks to Usidore and Chunt, and they have a different magical guest each week.

Every episode is almost entirely improvised, and great.

Some of them are for adults, but some are ok for kids like the FML one.

I loved episodes 16 and 17. but really start at 1, they are funny right from the beginning.

Scarab Sages

I'm sure this has been requested before, but I could only find information on blocking PMs and then shields.

It would be nice to have a block feature on the messageboards. I have a list of people i can think of offhand that I really don't care to read since they are almost always rude and cruel to others. I can't really "skip" them or "ignore" them in the middle of threads, it still comes up, and i get annoyed by these people.

Scarab Sages

I could not find the magic words "abilities cannot go below 0" from 3.5, so I'm wondering if that still applies. Especially since the ability "penalty" is a Pathfinder only thing. Since going below 0 due to ability damage is not really important to track during combat, I wonder can you go below 0 due to PENALTIES.

Penalty wrote:
...these penalties function just like ability damage, but they cannot cause you to fall unconscious or die. In essence, penalties cannot decrease your ability score to less than 1.

But I think the "less than 1" is fluff text since it says "in essence", the important text is "cannot fall unconscious", but am not sure.

For instance:
1. A character has only an 8 in strength (-1 modifier).
2. That character becomes exhausted. Their strength is effectively 2 and they now have -4 to their strength mod.
3. They then get poisoned, and take 7 points of damage. They have a -4 modifier before taking exhausted into account (floor(7/2)=3). Their score is effectively 1 and 1 more point of damage will cause them to fall unconscous.

Do we apply the -6 from exhausted or not? and does it hit a limit of 1,0 or none?

What is their strength modifier? (in all scenarios they are still conscious)

  • modifier -4 because exhausted penalty does nothing further than a minimum effective 1 ability score.
  • modifier -5 exhausted DOES apply penalty, but effective 0 is the minimum score you can have.
  • modifier -7 exhausted DOES apply penalty in addition to damage penalty, even though the total is worse than -5 (for a 0 score)

My characters like to min/max so they have 7s, and I hit them with poison and debuffs. So I have hit 0 before in damage. But mainly wondering can you go below 0 in penalties. Also I'm working on updating the Roll20 character sheet, so it's not just my game but affects thousands, so I need to know if I set a limit, since at least a few people might be affected.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

I am confused by the use of the word speed in this sentence

Swim skill

Quote:
Action: A successful Swim check allows you to swim a quarter of your speed as a move action or half your speed as a full-round action.

If I interpret "speed" as "velocity" it doesn't make sense, the distance you'd move would quadruple for full round actions, since you are doubling your "speed" as well as the "time" you are taking to swim. So I assume that is wrong.

What I think it means is this (for creatures with no Swim Speed):
You move at quarter of your land movement speed.

So if you are a dwarf with 20 move, you can do a move action and swim 5 feet. You can move 10 feet in a full round (double move / full round).

If you're a normal human, you can move 7.5 feet (rounded down) for a single move, or move 15 feet in a full round.

Similarly, the barbarian with 40 move on land, can swim 10 feet in a move action, or 20 feet in a full round action.

Is that correct?
If so, it is a lot simpler to say "you move at one quarter of your land speed" with the caveat "You can round fractions up if doing a double move action". that makes sense and is simple and you don't need to have multiple sentences to describe it, since speed is not distance.

Unless there is some reason that the "full round action" to swim is not the same as a "double move"

I ask since I think we were confused a few weeks ago in a sewer, when the narrow 2.5" ledge I ruled was slippery and you could move half speed, but then they could move half speed in the water since it says "you can move half speed as a full round action" and completely evaded the whole setup. But now I think, they should have been moving at quarter speed.

Scarab Sages

How would you adjudicate using scent during a snowstorm, particularly in a narrow valley where the wind is whipping around in all directions, not just one? The rules are pretty clear except for scent, and the players have two animal companions (one an Ape with 4 Int).

I am using the rules for Blizzard:

Heavy Snow and Severe Winds wrote:


-4 to ranged attacks for Severe Wind
-4 to Fly for Severe Wind
-4 to Perception due to snow
50% chance blow out protected flames
Visibility: 5' normal, 10' at 20% miss chance, no visibility farther
Double move (it is quad move for heavy but i don't want the players to have to stand in one place all the time, want the module to eventually end!)

However, nothing on that page mentions the effect on scent. All it says is downwind normal 30' scent ranged is doubled to 60, and upwind halved to 15. But that is normal wind. And since the players are in a valley, the scents could be upwind or downwind depending on the patterns of wind.

So I put this in Advice rather than Rules since there are apparently no rules. And I tried googling how well hound dogs track in storms but couldn't find anything (too many pages of dogs predicting storms were first).

I am taking them through Frozen Wind on Sunday. And trying to evoke the feeling of something out there coming for them but they can't see it. And am not sure, which will evoke that more:

Have scent always count as upwind and 15' radius detection? Giving PCs only 5' of warning before their own perception detects it,
Letting the animals detect at 30' or 60', letting them know something is there and the direction it is coming from?
Let them detect at 30', but when animal uses move action to find direction it cannot?
Have it flip upwind/downwind round to round, so sometimes it is 60' and can tell direction, next round scent is lost since they are upwind. Or downwind from different creature, different direction?

Scarab Sages

Been waiting for hours to post this,

Is this a Small spider or a Tiny one?

Spider found in Amazon

Scarab Sages

I'm going to run Frozen Wind at my next session for Halloween, my PCs are 5th level so it is a perfect fit. From the internet it seems this is a popular module that is well loved so I am excited.

For people who have run it, do you have any tips, especially when using PCs instead of the pregens?

1. One cleric and one warpriest, so the "limit healing" is sadly not going to happen.

2. 6 players plus 2 animal companions, and 4 of the PCs have darkvision. One animal companion is a Large ape and another PC has a polearm, and two are mostly bow users, so for typical wilderness encounters I can't get anything near them that doesn't use stealth (and cover its scent)

Spoiler:
I think one way around this is to make the storm really awful and physically limit vision much like Fog Cloud. Then at least the zombies could get close. I may have to make them fast zombies to so they can get some hits in.

3. any tips for beefing up the encounters?

Spoiler:
One suggestion was to add regeneration to the zombies, making fire necessary to destroy them. Except one guy does have a bandoleer of alchemists fire, so it won't be hard to get around that, at least it will make him use it, maybe if I also add a lot more zombies.

4. We are in Ustalav, and I was thinking of changing it to a more western theme (with Pharasmin monks), it is well written and would hate to mess it up with too many changes, so how to explain

Spoiler:
Given this is in Rule of Fear "[Some] swear whole towns sometimes go missing in the mists, losing their connection to the world and vanishing forever in the haze" I think when the players are adventuring (it is winter too in our campaign so that's a plus) they will get hit by a storm that limits vision, and they'll realize they need to seek cover, then they will barely see a light up ahead, and it will turn out to be the monastery. (At most maybe I'll make it dedicated to Irori to put them at ease in the beginning thinking they are safe). That should explain the Asian flavor. When they leave I'll just have to have the mists appear again to "teleport" them back to Ustalav. (Haha! They will be expecting Ravenloft )

5. anything else? We play on Roll20, so I can easily play music and pop up pictures of what they see. But I can't control lighting or kids screaming. :)

Scarab Sages

I'm wondering what people think of these rewards for a vampire faction I drew up for my current campaign. This is the group that assigns players the majority of their "missions" and rewards them.

I wonder if the rewards are too much.

I came up with the following fame and reputation rules. The rewards center around hiding their identity, and draining magic, and, to a certain extent, protection against other vampires.

Most of the players belong to this faction, one is secretly a member of the Whispering Way, and the other is secretly a member of the Palatine Eye. I am thinking of giving extra rewards to the Palatine Eye faction (I plan on giving "Signature Skill" to all factions for PP cost), Whispering Way already has a lot of rewards.

I intend on using this faction leading into Ashes at Dawn.

Ventrue
Is the organization name, just pulled it from Vampire the Masquerade (which I've never played, but this seemed like the right name). Magda is the name of the head vampire (that they have met so far).
This is a faction of vampires who run a series of escort agencies all across Ustalav. They only accept the wealthiest and most powerful clients, and use this as a knowledge gathering enterprise which they trade for wealth and power. The other reason is they can use this to drain people, and then cast spells such as restoration and memory erasing spells on their victims without having to fight them or reveal themselves.

There are also many non vampire employees. the main contact for the team of PCs is a Bard (Negotiator archetype) that uses Oratory for her perform checks. She is the head of the business side.

Definitions
Fame: This is the total fame you have so far, this unlocks different levels of benefits.
PP: Prestige Points, these are spent to purchase boons.

Gaining Prestige:
Gain 1PP for any of these:
Make a DC 25 Knowledge (history or geography) check, 1/month
Make a DC 25 Diplomacy or Bluff check against any city official or noble, in small city or larger, 1/mo
Slay a member of a rival faction (and don't let it get traced back to Ventrue): Anaphexis, Inquisitors (of Pharasma), Whispering Way, any vampire hunter

Rewards
At 5 Fame
1 PP Gain +5 bonus to one knowledge check (pick one) (local, history, geography, religion)
1 PP Gain +5 bonus to one Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate check used in the city or vs someone the Ventrue have influence over
Gain a magical service:


  • 1 PP False Life
  • 24 PP Clone
  • 1 PP Inflict Serious Wounds
  • 2 PP Inflict critical wounds
  • 1 PP Transmute Wine to blood
  • 1 PP restoration of 1 class levels (cheaper than normal cost)

At 10 Fame
1 PP Gain Osirian as a known language
1 PP Gain +2 to your next save vs energy drain effects
3 PP Gain service of a specialist arcane caster or bard, HD = 1/2 of player, for one week
5 PP Gain a permanent +2 insight bonus to knowledge (pick one) ( local, history, geography, religion)
5 PP Gain +a permanent +2 insight bonus Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate used in the city or vs someone the Ventrue have influence over
10 PP Change a class feature to necromancy (such as a domain, school, mystery) without having to wait 5 days and pay retraining fees
1 PP/spell level: copy any arcane necromancy or divination spell to your spellbook without having to do a spellcraft check. Must be on your class list, but can be any race or spell normally you wouldn't find a copy of
Gain a magical service:


  • 1 PP Project Weakness
  • 1 PP Vampiric Touch
  • 1 PP Hide from Undead
  • 2 PP Steal Years
  • 2 PP enervation
  • 1 PP Steal breath
  • 5 PP Steal Years, Greater

8 PP Add Glamered to a piece of armor
8 PP Add Glamered to a weapon

At 15 Fame
1 PP Gain ancient Osirian as a known language
3 PP Gain service of a specialist arcane caster or bard, HD = 3/4 of player, for one week
5 PP Change familiar or animal companion to undead, requiring a 24 hour ritual This can be an archetype or template

At 20:
10 PP Add Vicious or Cruel to a weapon
5 PP Gain the Signature Skill Feat for Diplomacy, Knowledge (religion), or Knowledge (geography), can be taken more than once. This grants you Skill Unlocks per Pathfinder Unchained.

At 25 Fame
10 PP Accept a profane +2 bonus to any ability, in return for accepting divination spells cast upon you at any time. Refusal loses the bonus and grants -5 fame with ventrue. Can be taken once, though ability can be changed for 5PP.

At 30 Fame
10 PP Add stanching to a piece of armor
10 PP Gain service of a Vampire Spawn for 1 week, HD up to 3/4 of player
25 PP Purchase a bloodletting melee weapon (like the Bloodletting Kukri)
30 PP Purchase a Cloak of the Diplomat
60 PP Purchase a Cloak of the Bat
70 PP Purchase a melee weapon of Life Stealing (like Sword of Life Stealing)

At 50:
20 PP transform into a vampire, with Magda as master. Requires 24 hour ritual. (game terms: May decide to use the Libris Mortis class, not sure how this will work

Scarab Sages

My campaign has all neutral characters, bordering on evil. I have purchased some modules since I wanted to make things easier on myself, but obviously modules are written with the assumption good characters will want to help. This doesn't exactly work with them.

I am trying to come up with ways to motivate the players. For the first few levels I had contacts give them rewards for "missions" but am trying to make the campaign more immersive and give PCs goals instead of bribing them.

So far I have asked them what their motivations are, and which factions they wish to join. So I have a little to go on, but still not a lot. The only rule I laid down was no PvP or scheming against each other. (We've been together about 15 years so I am not worried about that)

How do I:
1. get them to actually run through a particular adventure (helping others is out)
2. get them to stop skipping side encounters/wandering monsters. This is mainly a problem since those encounters cannot drain them of resources before the BBEG. Plus, they end up skipping a lot of cool stuff.
3. come up with enticing reasons to go out and do ... anything

Character motivations:

The LN Warpriest of Irori is concerned with self perfection. He is using the others as a way to challenge himself with the monsters they end up fighting. He has joined the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye.
The CN Arcanist wants to eventually become a lich, and so looking for a way to join the Whispering Way. He is the only one that has a long term goal.
The CN Slayer wants fame and fortune.
the CN Barbarian wants fame and fortune.
The N Hunter I know the least about. He has expressed interest in the Green Faith.
For the last 3 players, I have used a Pathfinder contact to reward them or give them things to do.

Campaign:

Campaign is in Ustalav, and has centered around a Troglodyte cult of Yhidothrus, which I am inserting into the modules via clues. The Arcanist is interested in them since they have lich worshippers. This cult is in competition with the Whispering Way to get artifacts to help them raise their god/godlike being.

Also, they are trying to recover an artifact I made up called the Staff of Tar-Baphon (like the rod of seven parts, in pieces throughout the modules, they have one so far).

The above is centered around the Arcanist and his goals, so it leaves everyone else out, and want to try to pull them in.

Modules I'm trying to integrate:

I have the following modules I wanted to try to integrate:
From Shore to Sea (moved to near thrushmore) why would they bother?
No response from Deepmar (moved to near thrushmore) again, why would they bother

Others I am probably going to use, and potential hooks:
Hungry Are the Dead (I figure i can put a peice of the staff here, as well as have the BBEG be part of the cult of Y.)
Wake of the Watcher maybe i can use Yhidothrus instead of Dagon, and instead of the mace something else. Oh and throw in Marsh Giants, which I just read about.
Crucible of Chaos I am thinking of just using rumors of a fabulous city of treasure to attract them. I just read City of the Fallen Sky and am inspired by that.
Pact stone Pyramid they may be interested in artifact hunting, but not sure i have a reason for them to travel to Osirion, so thinking of changing this around somehow.

Scarab Sages

Two PCs died in the BBEG fight we just had. Now one wasn't really happy with his character and wants to try something new. I am ok with that.

The other is just making a new guy almost exactly the same (same race, class, and ability scores, just a better feat choice). I am not happy about saying "oh yeah this new guy comes along" but want to say "no, you have to use a Raise Dead, or try a different class out that you want" otherwise to me it seems like it is just a way to get around the cost of raise dead. "bob 2.0 comes along, the twin brother"

After all the PCs can certainly afford the Raise Dead plus 2 restorations quite easily. (they would be using prestige points for it, this is not PFS but I am playing with different factions competing in my campaign)

Does this seem fair or should I just drop it because does it even matter? All I would be doing is taking prestige points away from other players who'd have to help him pay. But on the other hand, it might be incentive for them to stop him from running in first and getting himself killed.

How do you guys handle player death and replacements?

Scarab Sages

I just want to confirm the following:

1. A stirge deals con damage on the round it succeeds on its touch attack, before the next character gets to go in the initiative order. Example: if the Stirge goes on init 9, he evades the AoO, succeeds in his touch attack, and deals 1 CON. The PC then goes on 8, and then performs a break grapple maneuver and rips it off.

2. Is the target (medium or small) grappled or not? The Universal Attach rule says no. The stirge description says "the grappled target" but I can find no consensus in the forums. Mostly it's important because the PCs have greatswords, and I have difficulty seeing them attack it with a greatsword. Scrape it off sure, but not for full damage of a regular attack. But then I am wondering what RAW is. I am leaning towards the universal rule since it makes sense to me, and who knows when the stirge text was written. But still, a PC swinging a greatsword at himself ...

3. If a PC makes a successful break grapple or escape artist check, and then releases the grapple, is the stirge in the same or an adjacent square. There is this "If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space" I am sure that was intended for reach and pulling, but it fits here too, and I can't imagine the PC wanting to release it in the same square.

4. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a PC?

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

OK I have the opposite problem from most people that run this, looking at the forums. I have 5 PCs of level 3, two Animal Companions (dinosaurs with barding - they took the feats to allow armor, and they are from Realms of the Mammoth Lord to account for the dinos) and one PC also will summon (Occultist Arcanist). So that's 8 actions they will get. They are also good tactically and unconventional.

I know I will have the following problems:

  • They won't believe anything the mayor says and will probably go on the offensive early. I understand this can make the module a lot easier since they are not in all those combats using resources and debuffs.

  • The cultists can't even hit the players. All have 18 AC even the pets (only the Arcanist has a measly 12)

  • they avoid combat when possible. I don't mean they like to role play, they like the combat, but they won't engage if there is nothing in it for them. So if they stealth and use perception they may just skip whole sections. (again making the final fight easier)

  • They'll have 7-8 actions per turn, definitely 8 for the end bosses due to summoning

  • The last boss cannot get away for a few rounds. It will be a sitting duck and die.


So far i have made the following changes. If you agree or disagree with any, or if you have other ideas, let me know. thanks.

Spoiler:


  • Gave the farmers +2 STR and normal sickles. This gives them +2, or +4 if I can get them into flanking position. Vs 18 AC they have a 65% chance to miss when flanking. I guess that is acceptable since they are only supposed to be an annoyance with a chance of CON debuff.

  • Maybe have some cultists hiding so they can surround players. Instead of 4 standing around waiting, have 3-4, and 3-4 hiding in bushes/corn who jump out behind party. Just to make sure the party doesn't have an easy escape route. Also give 1 out of 4 cultists a light crossbow or shortbow. Have them flank if possible, and go for the one squishy guy.

  • More stirges, more and make them more like angry bees than lethargic domesticated pets.

  • Improve Areana's and the scarecrow's hearing so they buff up if fighting is even 100 feet away and outside.

  • I changed Leonard's feats to give him power attack, stealthy, and gave him a little extra STR to get to an even number. This is mainly to make sure he gets that first sneak attack, and is able to do enough damage to scare them. He will probably use the sickle 2-handed as well.

  • Changed Andretti's feats to add improved initiative and combat casting. That's really all I did for him since I figure he is not meant to least terribly long.

  • Definitely have some cultists attack when Andretti attacks.

  • To give the blightspawn a chance I think when if first pops out and splatters everyone with gore, I should make everyone within 20' give a DC 14 Fort save or be nauseated 1d3 rounds, just like the stagnation aura if you drink.

Otherwise the strategy would be this:
Then during those first rounds of nausea: if someone is still tied up, sting that person, mainly for RP reasons, so there are repercussions if they did not save the person. Also, their ride (a barge captain) will be a victim, so they will be motivated to save him.

If players are still nauseated, now would be the best time to use Contagion and Bestow Curse. Then fly ASAP.

Before making any attacks cast blur on itself, then begin to make flyby sting attacks.

If any player drinks a potion and gets nauseated, attack that player with a touch spell if he has any left.

If the players run, use Diminish Plant to keep them from being able to hide in the corn, and to enable it to swoop in with easier fly checks.

If the players hide, then maybe even use grapple to pick up a helpless person, stinging them and draining them and dropping them. Just for fun. Maybe it can go rampaging through the village too until it gets bored and leaves. This also is for RP, since the PCs are neutral bordering on evil, but trying to make a show of being good.

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.

My players are complaining i'm too easy on them.
Part of it is mechanical (they are min maxed and use good tactics), but part of it is me. It is just hard for me to "let loose" and go after them. I really don't like the killer GM style as a player, but I find myself going too far the other direction.

They are 3rd level, 5 PCs with 2 animal companions, and are all new classes out of the ACG (except the Barbarian), 3 have darkvision, so it's hard enough just from a mechanical perspective. A lot of what I do just slows down the encounter, or they find ways around the smarter stuff. More hp, poison, more monsters, just makes it take longer. So that is my problem mechanically: how do I make an encounter harder without making it boring? (I assume there are tons of threads on this)

But secondly how do I get over an aversion to killing PCs?

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

In Prince of Wolves, we learn the following:

Quote:
... the Taldan general Arnisant broke the Shield of Aroden upon the staff of the Whispering Tyrant, sacrificing his own life in the act. That fraction of the god’s power contained within the artifact washed over Tar-Baphon, weakening him sufficiently

Mostly we read about the Shield of Aroden, now called the Shattered Shield of Arnisant. However, I am intrigued by the staff that Tar Baphon wielded that was able to destroy the artifact. (Most wiki quotes don't contain the fact the shield was broken against the staff.)

I thought, this staff is the perfect replacement for the Greyhawk artifact Rod of Seven Parts/Rod of Law. I let the PCs find out that when Arnisant broke his shield upon it, the staff also broke into 7 pieces which flew to the winds across Golarion. And I called it the Staff of Tar-Baphon. The PCs are in a combo Age of Worms / Carrion Crown campaign taking place in Ustalav, and the staff could work well with my neutral PCs, who may wish to stop or help the cults raise the god they are trying to raise.

Since the Rod of Law/Seven Parts is not exactly an evil item that Tar-Baphon would have wielded, what powers do you suggest for me to give it?

The first 4" piece (the PCs found in the Whispering Cairn) I made pretty much the same except it can Cure Light Wounds or Cause Light Wounds x times per day.

For the 2nd or 3rd piece, similar powers to the Raven's Head, since I am going to use the piece of the Staff, instead of the actual Raven's Head, for that one module that features it. Which, if you've run it, you know about and why.

Other changes I made for anyone interested:

Age of Worms spoiler:

The players finished the Whispering Cairn in the Age of Worms, which mentions the Rod above. Besides changing the Rod to the Staff of Tar Baphon, I changed the Whispering Cairn to be Arnisant's "lost tomb", instead of some Wind Duke. Also, the bas-reliefs in the tomb were about Sarenrae and Asmodeus trapping Rovagug, and some were about Aroden and later Arnisant defeating the Whispering Tyrant. (As opposed to the Greyhawk lore featuring the Queen of Chaos.)

Instead of the items at the end of Whispering Cairn, I actually give them the first piece of the Staff. They have already done the research to realize what they just found is part of the Staff of Tar-Baphon. And the worm in the jar now has something to do with Yhidothrus instead of either of the normal big baddie gods at the end of AoW AP or the CC AP.

Scarab Sages

For the Palatine Eye, Church of Razmer, and various other Secret Societies, we have the stats written up in Occult Mysteries for fees, obeisance checks, what you can buy with prestige points, etc. This tells us what we need to use that society in a campaign and how to handle it if a player wants to join one.

I was looking for a similar write up for the Pathfinder Society for use in non PFS campaigns. What players can buy with prestige is in the Field Guide, and current Guide to Organized Play, but that is mostly geared towards PFS. If I want other information like what do players need to do to stay in good stead with them, that is lacking.

I am thinking something like the below, please provide your feedback on it:

Requirements:
Initiation Fee: Must be sponsored
Initiation Test: Must successfully complete one scenario/adventure/module
Offerings: Must journal at least one adventure and send it to the venture captain for that area per period

Membership:
Obeisance Check: Bluff, Knowledge (history), Survival, Perception, Disable Device
Service Period: 6 months
Excommunication: 4 consecutive failed Obeisance checks

Tasks:
Same as those detailed in the Fame Events table in the Reputation and Fame section of Ultimate Campaign

Awards:
Same as that in the current Year of the Sky Key Guide to Organized Play, or any in the back of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide.

Why do this?
Well another secret society to join than those that have been written up. And a way to reward them with something besides money.

For the obeisance check, bluff is in all of them, so I kept it. I suppose it represents bluffing your way past the test. I chose knowledge (history), though I suppose it could be (any), but I thought history was more fitting. Survival because it is a useful skill for adventurers, and perception the same. Disable Device since every good Ustalav noble knows the Pathfinders are nothing but grave robbers :)

I am running our players through Ustalav and using Varian Jaggare as a contact to send them on missions, as well as another NPC that is a member of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye.

I am offering the player to each join either or both. The Palatine Eye contact would love to have a spy in the Pathfinder Society.

All the characters are neutral and borderline evil, so having fame and prestige as rewards helps me keep them in line. (these are all guys that have played together for decades so.. we are used to this).

Scarab Sages

Well I'm up all night working on SharePoint servers again.
I have been lobbying to migrate our company to SharePoint online, since then I won't spend so much time administering servers and might actually get to do some coding (well I do a lot of Powershell which is code). For some reason, SharePoint loves to do something different even though you are using the same script, doing the same exact thing. Sometimes what works on one server won't work on another. Even if you clone the damn box.

But for the past few weeks it's point and click and wait. And run a few scripts to fix appfabric caches.

Last time I went to SharePoint Saturday I felt like one of the most senior people there when it came to admin. Going to SPSDC next week. This time I might just feel shellshocked instead.

So ... yeah

Scarab Sages

So after reading Death's Heretic and The Redemption Engine, I am wondering where do "Atheists" (as mentioned in other threads more like anti-theists or dystheists) go after death, especially if they are particularly strong in one of the four alignments.

Well also, is the Graveyard of Souls (where atheists go) a place where the souls are "asleep" and unaware?

Secondly, what about particularly evil people? Do they "escape" punishment by going to the Graveyard instead of one of the outer planes?

I suppose good souls would not want the "Reward" of serving in an outer plane. Though after reading the Redemption Engine and it's talk of the Angels really serving the plane and being extensions of the plane rather than the gods, I am less sure merely sleeping for eternity is much of a reward for being good.

I guess what I'm asking, how much of Pharasma's judgement of souls based on their temperment override the fact they were an atheist, and also how much does it override what god they worshipped while alive? (or do only clerics and the like get to automatically go to their god's plane instead of the plane of their own alignment, if so?)

Scarab Sages

Say I have an Executioner's Hood whose stealth has beaten all the perception rolls, and it attacks the party member in the back.

I suspect the attack of an Executioner's Hood is pretty silent, and so would be the subsequent maintain grapple & constricts, and only the attacked player would be making noise.

Given Baker is in the back, and the initiative order is:

Hood: 20
Able: 18
Baker: 15
Charlie: 10

When do Able and Charlie become aware of the attack on Baker?

1. Upon the initial attack
2. Not until Baker has a chance to get their attention on his turn in the first regular round, since lurking rays make no noise.
3. During the 1st round Able can notice if he beats a perception roll of X? (and what would X be?)

I'm not sure if there are even rules for this.

thanks.

Scarab Sages

I am adding burrow speed, grab (on claw attack), and tremorsense to a group of skeletons. Skellies and PCs are all medium size. I read up on the various threads, and think these are the correct rules , but would like some help

1. burrowers have total concealment while underground. without tremorsense, PCs have no way of knowing where monsters are.

2. If burrower pops limbs only up from under PC and performs a claw attack(s), the PCs have concealment (50% miss chance).

3. Can they even do #2 without Earth Glide? Or would Earth Glide be a requirement for corporeal creatures?

4. while monster's limbs are out (after making attack) do any of the following apply that round:
4.a. monster has partial cover (+2 AC)
4.b. PC attacks considered higher ground (+1 attack)
4.c. if head not out then monster gets -4AC to attacks.

5 Can the skeleton's head and arms all be above ground if it is under the PC (or is that the same square?)

6. Using claw+grab, if skeleton has only arms up above the ground to grab PC, is that considered "normal" grapple per Grab rules, or "using part of it's body used to grab to hold the opponent" and thus -20 CMB? I don't think it's the 2nd, I think that is for creatures grabbing you with one limb that want to avoid gaining the grappled condition.

7. To pull a character under, after succeeding on the 50% miss, claw + grab to grapple on the 1st round, on 2nd round the monster only has to maintain grapple to move itself down 5' and the PC as well.

8. Since pulling a pc underground is probably considered hazardous, the PC would get a free check at +4 to break grapple. This check is made after the monster already rolled to maintain the grapple.

9. again, can a corporeal monster with burrow but not Earth Glide even do #6 and pull a PC underground?

10. If a monster climbs up to stand above ground, that is a move action that provokes an AOO.

thanks

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

I have seen this come up a few times in the last few weeks, and seen different answers:

If Character A ready an action (to interrupt something, such as a spell) that character B is about to perform, And that action he is trying to interrupt is something that provokes an attack of opportunity (such as a spell, or ranged attack)

Does character A get both his readied action AND the attack of opportunity?

I've seen people here say "yes", but I have never played with anyone that would allow this, 3.5 or Pathfinder or otherwise. So here's hoping we get a FAQ.

Below I go over some of the arguments I've seen. But I've seen people argue both ways and would like to get a more "official" answer. At the very least, no matter which way it is decided, we might get some clarification on a few things regarding readied actions.

I checked FAQs and can't find anything, past messageboard posts that are inconclusive by the end (seen some flagrantly wrong advice like touch spells provoking 2 AoOs). I've check the rules back to 3.5, and the rule only says you can ready an action to interrupt, but never say "you also get your Aoo". And thus you can argue it is not prohibited because it's not mentioned.

I've read arguments that say because the rule is "The action occurs just before the action that triggers it" Because of that you get the AoO when Character B goes on to take an action that provokes.

However: Everywhere I read on spellcasting, only the damage you take WHILE casting affects concentration, not damage you take before - even in the same round. Therefore, if the readied action is truly "before", it would not affect concentration.

So it seems to me: either your readied action is before the spellcasting, and therefore does not affect their concentration, and then you get another Aoo; or your readied action is after spellcasting starts, and interrupts spellcasting and affects concentration, but then you don't get an Aoo.

But, since it does not seem very conclusive, I'd like to get a FAQ and more official ruling.