closetgamer's page

I planted an opportunity before my players even started FoP. On the same bulletin board that they learned about Bort’s caravan, I also had a flyer recruiting crew members aboard a ship setting sail for Absalom and then on to ports in Mwangi...

David Knott, this is correct in the real world.

A jungle is a type of tropical forest (typically considered a tropical rain forest). There are temperate forests, and boreal forests as well.

Depending on your GM/table, it might help to specify what kind of forest.

My last PC was a Dwarven Cleric of Torag, and before that a 3.5 Human Paladin of... ended up a Fist of Raziel.

So... I'm still debating what to focus on.

I can't envision a Paladin without heavy armor, so the whole sword/pistol idea is shot ;) The Dex issues with medium and heavy armor, plus the two weapon feats needed are turning me away from it.

I'm thinking more of just a straight up Paladin from first level with Oath of Vengeance.

I'm looking at TWF vs Two Hander feat trees and trying to optimize that. Also thinking of having a back-up reach weapon, so maybe a feat or two for that??

Gods that have been proposed in the group are Iomedae, Sarenrae, Desna, and Milani... but I haven't gotten that far yet obviously.

Yeah, after RoW the whole table has had enough of firearms... with the exception of the Player who will run WotR who is currently playing the Spellslinger and has completely broken guns for our group :/

What about Inquisitor? Pros/Cons vs Paladins? It seems better almost, with the judgements, teamwork feats, etc...

I'm thinking of playing a Half-Orc if that matters, even though the Human extra feat always calls to me..

Okay! 'Nuff said... Magnuskn, Captain... already noted, but thanks for the heads up ;) The DM actually is encouraging a Gunslinger/Paladin - Holy Gun type of character. He is playing a Spellslinger/Eldritch Knight Munchkin atrocity in my RoW campaign now and causing all kinds of havoc. So much so that the rest of the table is "over" guns... Yet he implies being proficient in firearms will be extremely beneficial.

My group will be starting this AP in the next month or two and I need help coming up with my paladin. I know the basics of the campaign and realize that the Oathbound Paladin's Oath vs Fiends will make things difficult with the story. I don't want to play "Stupid for God" either. So I'm looking for some suggestions on where to start.

A little in on the party. There will be a Magus, Cleric, and an Alchemist (or perhaps a Sorcerer or Summoner - they're still undecided), so I need to bring the pain with my Paladin. There's a possibility of a 5th PC, but it looks doubtful.

Group dynamics: This is a Mythic campaign and the DM is a self-titled POWER-gamer, so we (the players) plan to pile on as much cheese as possible in order to keep up with the DM (who revels at the challenge of us trying to "out-cheese" him). Starting stats are crazy; 18,18, 16, 16, 16, 14 (see what I mean?). We all see this as a throwback to our old Monty/Munchkin days...

I need help getting my grater going ;)

This is my only real complaint with Paizo products. My group has had numerous AP books lose pages as described above. More irritating is the rate at which the CRB falls apart. There are 4 copies in my group and the bindings on all of them have not held up nearly as well as expected. Normal wear and tear is inevitable, but these four books have all gone weak and failed in the same place, the spine/binding. For the price of the one book you can't go without, that's just lame. C'mon Paizo, step it up with the next printing! Otherwise, I love Pathfinder!

One of our sessions was a bit tedious when the party decided to destroy the troops on the outside of the prison. This lead to several combats in a row against similar type creatures with no role playing or exploring mixed in. So literally one Sunday we did combats for 7 hours.

This same sort of thing occurred in my last session. The PCs teleported into a tower, waylaid the occupants, teleported to the next, rinse and repeat (eventually they did have to resort to Fly potions and the like to get to the last few towers). After the second tower I moved some troops and tanks in to fire on them. The troops are certainly brutal with their fusillade, and the tanks pack a punch but my players systematically wiped them out eventually (I prevented the tanks from using the Hotchkiss on the PCs when they entered the Anchor towers though). The troop's vulnerability to area of effect spells was exploited for sure.

We left off with the Polovnik and his Cassocks entering the scene. I will release the Trench Mists/zombies right after a Flamethrower troop or two blast the PCs for a few rounds. The party has decimated a total of 4-5 troops at this point iirc (along with 3 animated tanks), but the players don't want to spend another entire session fighting the troops in the trenches "just because", so they are pushing for the monastery now that it has been called back to earth.

Any advice on running the final section inside the monastery?

Additionally, we stopped at the first encounter with Rasputin (before the fire corpse orgy attacks), so I still have all the troops at the camp to shred the party with...

Any suggestions for running the troops entrenched in and around the camp other than what the mod gives? My players are all veteran gamers and frequently thwart the bad guy's prescribed strategies...

My player and I agreed, after he had some time to think about it mechanically, to leave the troops as written and do away with the added damage. He realized that the mechanics prevent the game from bogging down and that an additional 50% damage really wasn't going to make a huge difference... It just caught him off guard because as he realized there was a large number of soldiers packed closely together he began envisioning a Cleave fest.. Only to be disappointed when I told him it didn't work that way... So, controversy averted. Thanks for all the input!!

Yeah, that was my take on it as well. My player was slightly miffed that when he reached the mortar troops and jumped into the midst of them that his 7 Feat investment would be useless.. Since it wasn't addressed in the troop write up, I gave him the additional damage to placate him until I could look into it and inquire here.

Only one went invisible and no one flew... The encounter worked pretty well. One question though, if a PC actively occupies the troop space to melee attack, is there no way to account for Feats like Cleave, Greater Cleave, Cleaving Finish, etc? I had a Barbarian do so and simply house-ruled an additional 50% damage on the fly until I could inquire here...

Thanks Rob, I see where I missed that now.. My group is likely to use stealth once they exit the hut based on what the Coffin Man reveals. I have to assume they will anyway, they're an experienced bunch.

What are the targeting DCs for the hotchkiss and the aasen mortar/ other weapons using indirect fire? I figured I could just use the large and light catapult when I couldn't find it in the mod, but figured I would check here first. I'm starting book 5 tomorrow.

Also, is there no precaution against stealth/covert/invisible attack by the mortar troops and tank?

Could maybe the Dragon decide to fly overhead when they're on top of their statue? For me it would be like in Skyrim, moment I saw a dragon I was chasing it down. But I'm not one of your players. =P Have the dragon attack the Hoofwood?

Yeah, they've heard stories of the dragon from Korak Kaag and Erdija already. They even saw something "way off in the distance" on their journey to Artrosa. They are mid-encounter with the Witch-Tree, having just made the Sense Motive check to discern that there is another way to get past (riddle). The PCs don't know anything yet other than there is another option. Having the dragon buzz them now may be entertaining. One PC in particular is intent on hunting it down asap.

I was playing with the idea of using a mythic tier instead of the mantle and the geas (which I don't like at all) too, but, to be honest, after checking out the actual Mythic Adventures rules, it seems to me that a group of character with even one mythic tier will be ridiculously overpowered and will easily steamroller over the rest of what's to come. Too bad.

That's exactly why I want to test drive it first and see how much extra work it will involve to carry through the rest of the AP. My group is already more powerful then the AP is designed for, and I have been adjusting here and there to account for that (all enemies get max HPs, I have increased numbers of fodder enemies, increased terrain obstacles, and advanced some of the bigger badguys)...

Nothing says the Mythic powers HAVE to come from the Mantle... I'm toying with a different approach. If you're interested, check out my post in the Maiden, Mother, Crone thread here >> Mythic Trial

Easy. Make sure the monsters are screwed over by it as well.

And it's snowing a lot. To be honest, I think Paizo didn't think things through with this. If it's snowing even just six inches a day, then there shouldn't be a trail leading back to the Valley where the Winter Portal is, tracks would be covered up (so you see a disturbance in the snow but you can't determine what made it) so you'd not see signs of blood or the like, and so on.

The alternative is to have lines of snow squalls going through, so that some combats don't have snowfall reducing visibility and others do.

Fortunately, once the PCs go through the Winter Portal, it's not snowing constantly over in Irrisen.

+1

Thinking about this made me remember a ranger archetype I had seen: the Witchguard, sworn defenders of the witches of the north.

Nazhena will have one with her for sure, maybe other witches as well. Aside from being a balancing factor, if ever there was an opportunity to use this archetype for npcs, THIS is the campaign.

Hmmm... noted. Though my group is now in Iobaria, that could still prove useful.

For me, taking Jim's advice worked out great. Advancing the dragon one age category made for a much more exciting fight. That and some of the tactics proved to be a recipe for a perfect encounter. Lots of anxiety coupled with the excitement of the first dragon encounter of the campaign...

But, ironically (compared to Daneth's game) the Gobbler fight was very anticlimactic. It did manage to swallow one PC, but was then waylaid by a maxed out Crit and fell very quickly.

The throw-back dungeon crawl style is very nostalgic. Although my players have just reached the top of the Maiden I am sure they will enjoy the 3-in-1 dungeon immensely. So far, this is actually turning out to be much more entertaining than I originally thought it would be(based on some mediocre reviews I read).

Moving on to my GM Reference question/request..

I have used some of the info in the Dvesda Marches gazetteer along with some player requests, to add a side trek to this module. Specifically, one player "requested" another dragon encounter (after the fight with my advanced version of Logrovich turned out so exciting). So, I have devised a way to introduce some of the new Mythic rules on a trial basis while also placating my player(s) desire to slay dragons. I want to retool the White Dragon Sohjver (which I renamed Isenhjarta = "Icey Heart" aka "The Hoarfrost Harbinger") to include a bit of Mythic power. Not so much as to be impossible to defeat, but enough to make a truly "epic" fight. I'm assuming she is going to remain "only" an Adult (the background implies the dragon is much older, but it needs to remain within the PC's ability to defeat - even if brutally challenging).

Any thoughts on doing this without going too far and keeping in line with the level of the game? I was thinking of "just" giving the Dragon the first tier powers of Hard to Kill, Mythic Power, and Surge... along with the non-Mythic additional Feat of Improved Vital Strike, and of course, max HPs. Then, whichever PC lands the killing blow against the Dragon will absorb the Mythic power for the remainder of the module until the Hut leaves Iobaria. At that time the Mythic power is lost. This will allow me to see if a) I like the outcome and RP aspects and b) I can keep it from breaking my game. Of course there will be a lair and a hoard involved as well...

As of right now, the group is debating how to deal with the Witch Tree (in between sessions). So, they could tackle Artrosa first and then go hunt the Dragon, or they may come back to the table and decide to hunt the Dragon first and then deal with the tree/Dungeon. I could "encourage" the latter, but don't want to railroad the plot anymore...

**Note: My players are more powerful than the typical PF 15 point buy troupe. Consider them to be 25 point buy PCs.**

The group consists of a Barbarian6/Fighter2, Inquisitor8, Magus8, Wizard (spellslinger)7/Gunslinger1 and a DMPC/Cohort Cleric6...

Thoughts, advice, and ideas are appreciated!

I have to say that these Item Cards are really lame. The RoW deck is the first purchased at my table and the fact that they are just pictures with "fill in the blank" spots was a HUGE let down. Why not have all the unique items found in the AP stat-blocked on the cards, and THEN add some blanks to the deck?

Until recently my group had no dedicated healer and survived off of CLW wands that the Inquisitor used to keep them alive... I did just allow one PC to take leadership and rolled up a (DM PC) Cleric of Milani cohort (Leadership is banned in my game, but I made the exception to keep the game running smoothly). The Cleric's level disparity should keep it interesting, I plan on keeping her at least 2 levels behind the PCs for the duration of the game - just because.

There are plenty of ways to make it more difficult or easy for the players if you want to though. I focus on everyone having fun most of the time. I want them to fear their PCs dying, but I also want to make sure they can actually face the challenges with a chance to survive. Lack of Restoration spells and others like it would really change how the game plays out. I see it bogging down play and causing a lot of frustration. Although it could be argued that the players should have created a PC Cleric. I played a Cleric in our last campaign, and can say honestly, it is not the most exciting class - I wouldn't play one again... I didn't want to "force" someone to play a class that they really weren't passionate about, so I bent my Leadership rule.

Jim -

Thanks for all the input concerning Logrovich!

The fight with him went well. I bumped him up to Juvenile and kept him in the air for almost the entire combat (he landed to get in a full attack once I knew he was beaten). I managed to drop half the party, without killing them outright. I utilized the fog cloud to completely obscure the "landing pad" and benefited greatly from the miss chance.

Granny Nan and the Gobbler (encountered after Logrovich as the PCs came down, clearing out the second story) were not as big a challenge thanks to not one, but two huge Critical hits by the party. They were on a roll. I had thought to have Nan join in the fray with Logrovich, but decided against it. I regretted not doing that afterward.

The fight with Nazhena went along the same lines as with the dragon. I dropped some PCs without actually killing them (my Players are almost as upset when they get knocked out of combat as when they die).

Our next session will see them actually enter the Hut, clear it out (the Golem) and finally get to try and use the thing.

Any suggestions on making the first encounter with the Hut more memorable/dramatic?

Awesome response Jim! Thanks for all the insight.

I knew I needed to look at the iced floor/terrain rules and was just "guestimating".

I had also thought of advancing Logrivich, and think that will be a better approach then simply adding more Trolls.

There was some mention of adding a clockwork golem or some such in a previous post. I may look at that as well.

As I said, they are much more powerful than the module calls for, so I like to plan ahead and then back it down if I need to.

Thanks again!

The Clock Tower is dangerous.

My group is way above the average power level for the AP, and they still barely survived the first floor. At one point they were basically surrounded by the trolls and it was looking like a TPK.

I decided that due to all the mechanical workings of the tower that the -5 Perception (to hear) penalty in effect nullified any chance of enemies on the other levels from hearing the sounds of combat, lest my whole table revolt against me.

As it stands, they are beaten and battered and on their way upstairs. We ended with them heading up and declaring "We're going straight to the top, no stopping on the intermediate levels... Kill the dragon!!).

Any thoughts on how to deal with that?

I don't have a problem with it really as they will still want to deal with the baddies on the way out (xp/treasure wh*res that they are).

I'm thinking of adding a few trolls to the Logrivich encounter because I honestly think the groups Barbarian is going to pummel that dragon if he can get in close enough to him. I plan on having the floor covered in slippery ice (half speed for movement or risk falling).

What other tactics can I use to make this dragon encounter more intimidating? I want them to be scared to death, without actually killing them all...

Regarding the rimepelt, as a prospective GM, would it be reasonable to have the pelt left over from an expended rimepelt as a material make it easier/cheaper to make another one from the same pelt, or to have a way to somehow "Recharge" it?

I inadvertently let my group make the same Survival check to make a second Rime Pelt after killing Korgin in the Howlings. Only after did I remember the verbiage in the item description saying that such a feat was only rarely possible. Oh well. It hasn't proved to be a big deal. They got it right before going to the Shrine of the Everbloom, and now they are in the Clock Tower... So I doubt it makes too much difference.

Sylgja rewarded my group with the scroll. I kind of wondered what the point was in it being there in the first place if the remedy for the curse was so easily reached... Granted, the PC did have to suffer through it for a little while, but it wasn't very long and didn't have a huge impact.

I didn't think they were directed at me specifically, just people who voiced comments like mine. I just used me as an example because I am me. Generally.

Smiley face would have been nice. It's impossible to get tone from text. I'm also a little sorry I blew up. I was, I think, not having a great day yesterday.

Peace and beer, fellow gamer.

;)

Yeungling, I'm not sure why you assume my last comments were directed at you specifically. To be clear, I was actually referring to another member's comment.
And even then, my intent wasn't to stir up controversy. I was just voicing an opinion.

Perhaps I should have added a smiley face at the end of my knee-jerk comment.

I apologize if you (or anyone else here) felt this was a personal attack. It wasn't. My point was simply, just because someone occasionally plays like a munchkin, and tries to rationalize a PC's actions to meet their own in game goals doesn't mean that person has "psychological" issues. Maybe he was just trying to ride the fence or "have his cake and eat it too". I was just alarmed at the leap from point A to point B, that's all.

Please accept my apology for any misunderstanding. I honestly didn't think I would have offended anyone.

And again, thanks for ALL of the input.

Your wizard does have [url=http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/ultimateCombatFeats.html#_gunsmithing]Gunsmithing/url], which allows him to build new guns himself as long as he can get the raw materials, and has the time to do it.

I would NOT expect to find firearms in Whitethrone - or if there are any, they are probably ludicrously overpriced.

If he doesn't have Crafts Arms & Armor himself, and the PCs have a spare day, he might able to get a Herald NPC to make a gun +1.

I'm not sure how much he should be encouraged to invest in his early firearms because, well, book 5.

I've told my player who's going to play a Black Powder Inquisition inquisitor that he really won't see a damn thing for gun treasure until book 5, at which point he'll get an absurd payoff. So he's at least aware that that'll be a thing. (I had informed my players back when I decided I'd be running RoW that they will eventually travel to Earth to fight Rasputin, for he is on Earth and he Must Die.)

Yeah, this is my initial thought. I've prohibited Item Creation Feats other than Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion, so no, he won't be able to Craft anything magical. However, it's not a huge deal as he "magics" his Firearm via the Spellslinger abilities/spells. So, I guess he can try to make whatever gun he wants that falls under "early firearms" while shacked up with the Heralds, but it will be MW at best.

then regardless of what some may say, I don't think you've got a closet psycho in your group.

Yeah, those comments, I thought were a bit "overzealous" too. He's not a closet psycho, just a little "munchkinny" and dramatic at times. To jump to the conclusion that he is somehow a psychopath based on the very limited info I gave is more frightening to me personally. Knee-jerk much?

It just sounds like two people having a chat, and realising they were on a different page.

Yes, this is exactly what it was. He has since conformed to what the rest of the table agrees to be acceptable "vengeance" (ie NO torture or inhumane treatment). I told him to refer to the Geneva Convention for further explanation of what will most likely be acceptable.

I appreciate all the feedback. And though I was a bit taken aback by some assumptions in this thread, I used all the posts to help me get through this misunderstanding.

Thanks!

My players are entering the Howlings this weekend and will be wanting to spend their $ after getting their papers from Mort(in)/meeting Solveig. I fully plan on having the Heralds facilitate shopping for the party, though I have already explained that if any of them want to do any clandestine shopping on their own that they can. Of course they will run a huge risk of getting snatched up at check points etc (ie I am allowing them to do this, but strongly discouraging it. Side missions are anathema at my table unless the entire party is involved).

What about Firearms though? I have a Wizard (spellslinger)/Gunslinger who is going to want to upgrade (I imagine). As Firearms are "just emerging"in my game, how much leeway is feasible in finding anything suitable for a 5th Level PC? I'm torn between there being absolutely nothing (or next to nothing) available and giving the Heralds a Firearms specialist for the PC to trade/buy/sell with... Regardless, whatever is available I'm pretty positive none of it will be magical. Thoughts?

I don't think it's his actual ideological stance, especially in real life. I think he is just stuck in his WH40k/Dark Heresy mentality of what an Inquisitor should be.

That, and he wants his cake and eat it too...

I appreciate all the input.

The issue has been put to rest for now and I don't foresee it being a huge problem in the future. He just had a knee-jerk "Why's everybody always pickin' on me" moment I think. I believe things will get back on track when we play again tonight.

I notice the Frigid Touch (Su) Ability of the Winter Fey Template on page 91 is completely different than the spell Frigid Touch. Is this accurate? I'm not sure which I like better, the 4d6 cold damage + staggered or the 1d6 Dexterity damage... Neither give a save and seem relatively even in power.

Just curious why they don't have the same effect I guess...

Yeah, I'm noticing that you have some problems on your hand. What are the two CG guys doing while the Inquisitor is breaking kneecaps? Torture is simply against any good alignment after all.

The two CG PCs are the ones who said it was going too far with the Inquisitor originally. Again, I take full responsibility for not addressing or correcting this sooner.

The Player running the Inquisitor has conceded (though he still doesn't agree with the torture = evil) and agreed to alter his character's behavior rather than risk losing any spells/judgements and having to atone. But he has now deflected the spotlight onto the Player of the Barbarian... forcing me to wag the finger at what I see as "appropriate" CN behavior. Though that doesn't mean other Players will appreciate it (the behavior).

I kind of wonder how the rest of the party is composed. Seems that the Inquisitor is the only guy who is good or the other players are too timid to speak up to the guy.

You would think.

Actually, the CN Barbarian is getting more grief for his obnoxious attitude toward women, which while obnoxious, does fall in line with his alignment and culture/background story.

I do run a difficult group of players to be sure, knew it going in. Lots of egos to contend with.

But to answer the question about party composition,
"NG" Inquisitor
"CN" Barbarian
CG Magus
CG Wizard(spellslinger)/Gunslinger.

It seems rather dismissive of the adventures to say that there is no point in running them at all, if you don't use the background story for Baba Yaga. I feel the writers are doing a lot more work when it comes to story, location design, encounter design, and so on, than just doing some Golarion fanservice.

I believe many of the Paizo adventures are very good in their own right, not because they use names from the Golarion setting.

I think what the general consensus here is "Why would you want to take Baba Yaga out of the 'Baba Yaga AP'?"

Even if not set in Golarion, I would still want Baba Yaga to be a central figure in the AP. There really doesn't seem to be any reason not to use her as is, even if set in a home-brew world.

Then again, this may be the first time some people have ever heard of the Queen of Witches... For some of us though, we are very familiar with her and her hut from previous incarnations in other games/systems/settings. I for one was sold on this AP the moment I heard about it, if for nothing else than nostalgia's sake.

Nope, sorry. I hate the setting and putting adventures in the real world. I don't run any Pathfinder adventures in Golarion.

And it really doesn't look like a lot of work to me. It really comes down to just changing some names and changing the description of the weapons and soldiers in part 5. I really don't see why this would be such a huge issue.

Yora, it seems you have already established what you'd like to do and have at least a basic idea of how to do it.

My recent experience in this RoW section of the boards tells me that most everyone here favors this AP and is really excited to run it as is. There have been a few naysayers that have mentioned their disdain for going to Earth, but they are minimal.

You may have more luck getting the input you're looking for in the Homebrew section of the boards (if you haven't already).

Good luck putting your stamp on it! And again, as long as you have fun, you're doing it right ;)

It seems pretty unanimous here, and it was actually the player's idea for me to "put it to the boards".

I'm satisfied that my initial reaction to warn him was the right one. How I did so, maybe not so much.

I'm going with the temporary loss of spells/judgements first as a future caution sign, and then on to permanent loss/alignment shift until atonement thereafter.

Thanks for all the input!

Seems like a lot of work to make it fit your criteria. Plus, like some others have said, you'd be taking all the good stuff out and replacing it with a mediocre, forced, substitute.

Baba Yaga is not only a real world mythic figure, but also (at least to me) an iconic immortal in fantasy rpgs. Why would you want to replace her with some no-name clone?

The Hut is Baba Yaga's means of planet/plane hopping. To limit it to simply a teleportation device to travel around the globe stinks, but then again, I'm just a tad disappointed all the AP's locales are on the Prime Material Plane...

The fact that you "don't like Golarion" really doesn't seem to me to be that big a deal. Only half the books take place there, and the story is pretty streamlined that any parts of Golarion you don't like can be ignored with the exception of Irrisen/Whitethrone and Iobaria.

Worst case? Find a suitable sub for Whitethrone and the White Witches, and run it as is... Just call places by your preferred names. Triaxus and Earth can still be played the way they are, because they aren't Golarion anyway.

That's my 2 cp. But idk, it's your game, as long as you have fun that's all that matters.

I probably would have warned and then slapped him with an alignment change long before, though it probably wouldn't have been to chaotic good. . .

I agree, I should have addressed it sooner. My reasons for not doing so are varied, but suffice to say they were in the interest of having fun and I was hopeful that some of the In Character play of the other PCs would have sufficed. It didn't, and now I realize I should have corrected this immediately.

Hindsight and what-not..

I don't have the book, but I don't see how Chivalry and Vengeance mesh together. If he promised to release her, and then goes, "HA HA didn't say with intact kneecaps," I think you were within your rights to implement an alignment change.

Ragthiel's tainted heritage is to blame for the odd Portfolio, I assume. The write-up in Chronicle of the Righteous does say how he was at odds with his parentage and struggles with it ("Ragathiel's tainted heritage has left him with a wrathful heart, and the angel struggles constantly to

2) you waited too long before calling him on it

You're right.

Although he did "lighten up" with Rohkar, so I was hopeful I wouldn't have to call him on it. Also, I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt, given they were evil and had tried to murder the PCs. When he kneecapped Jairess though, that was the straw.

Thanks for your input.

This is probably more of an "Advice" thread, but given it's taking place in my RoW game, I thought I would start here...

I have a Player running a NG Inquisitor that follows Ragathiel (a LG Empyreal Lord - see Chronicle of the Righteous). Ragathiel's portfolio includes Chivalry, Duty, and Vengeance. The PC Inquisitor is basically a "Monster Hunter" per his back-story, and practices the Vengeance portion of the dogma more than any other...

So, we began play about 2 months ago and in every session the Inquisitor has tortured and or interrogated captured enemies. This includes holding the Winter-Touched Fey over a campfire, plucking off their wings, and "feeding" one to the group's Barbarian (ok he didn't feed it to him, but he gave the Barbarian the burnt body knowing he was going to eat it).

With Rohkar, he interrogated and then executed the guy. It was a clean and "honorable" death, unlike the others so no harm no foul.

Finally, during yesterday's session, after Jairess was knocked unconscious and bound in the aerie, he began interrogating her once she awoke. It went a little something like this... "Tell us all you know about Nazhena and Radosek's plans and I'll let you go free." To wit she conveyed everything she knew (which wasn't anything the PCs didn't already know). At that point, the Inquisitor asks the still bound NPC why, if she isn't Evil, would she help the Pale Tower occupants? Basically her response was something to this affect "I recon the surrounding area and report to the powers that be. It's a job, and as long as I get to work with my birds, I'm happy." Well, that wasn't good enough for the Inquisitor. He then began to berate her for not following the tenets of Gozreh and that she should not serve those that would try to control the planet's climate. At this point Jairess (CN Cleric of Gozreh) makes her Religion check to recognize the PC's Holy Symbol. Succeeding she retorts rather vehemently "How dare you presume to tell me about my God's tenets!! You! A pathetic CULT FOLLOWER of all people! I have done what you asked, cut my bonds or kill me now, but I will not be reprimanded by one such as you!"

So, the Inquisitor smashes her kneecap (coup d'grace style), breaking it and cuts her free. He sends her off limping into the wilderness with no cold weather gear or supplies. Effectively a death sentence...

My response as GM, and due to the other Players concerns that perhaps the Inquisitor is "over-doing" it, was to "warn" him with a shift from NG to CG. I didn't realize that this would prevent him from following Ragathiel (followers can't be CG), so he was pissed. Realizing that was more harsh then I intended, I told him that his alignment would not shift this time, but that this is a warning and that further behavior like this would result in an alignment shift. He stewed for a bit, but eventually conceded, stating that "Well, I need to know what is and isn't acceptable."

So, was I wrong? I think that sort of bloodthirsty, barbaric, and cruel behavior warranted a reprimand. He touts "Inquisitors skirt the edge of right and wrong". My argument was that his deity is LG, and specifically prohibits Chaotic behavior (all the more reason for the reprimand). And though he conceded, he did add "You're the GM, I don't agree, but whatever..."

What do you guys think? Am I being too harsh? Is he too overzealous? Or are we both a little off the mark?

More concerned about being able to reproduce them individually than in a mass-production environment. I'm pretty sure a Gunsmith with sufficient skill can do so, especially if they are able to recover a few choice tools...

What sort of penalties should be incurred when trying to replicate "new technology"?

Thanks again Jim! That does make more sense actually... and it will definitely be more dramatic that way.

I love these boards!

I hope this helps!

It does help Jim, and it's always awesome to get input directly from you guys! I'm planning to ramp up the martial law and try to give Whitethrone a Cold War feel. The Herald's will play a slightly more significant role in my game too.

Any thoughts, ideas, or advice?

I really like the troops = swarms. Before I got the point where it actually says that, I was thinking to myself "sounds like a swarm to me". I'm really looking forward to running this!