drsparnum's page
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber. 466 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists.
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I'm running a game with 7 players so I sometimes need to adapt things just for that reason. I recently wrapped up book 1. Here are my tips for that book....
1. cut the number of days aboard the wormwood by about half. This can be done by only running the days that have an event. Taking the Man's Promise and subsequent mutiny will still feel earned. This is especially true if you have a lot of PCs because that is a lot of ship actions.
2. take Dudemeisters suggestion and run salvage operation. I put a twist into salvage operation. When my players boarded the ship I had them make a sailor check to realize the ship was sinking and their movement would hasten that process. I told them they estimated they had 4 minutes and then wrote right on the battlemat: Rounds (40). After each round I put a tally mark down to make it 100% transparent they were on a clock. In the process we got some cool fights. The party split up to explore faster (you never get that!) and I had scenes where, for example, one PC still on the deck was throwing holy water down through a grate to help a fight on the lower deck. You do need to not punish your players for splitting up. I'm trying to run this game to reward jumping in. I took the suggestion too after the PCs got the treasure (I had it be magical sails), Peppery Longfarthing cast fly on Harrigan, Dimension Door'ed him above the squid, and he dove in the water solo and slew the squid under the water. That really sent a message to my PCs to not mutiny while Harrigan was around.
3. I house-ruled that in the shackles the spell create water is level 3 due to the presence of all the salt water, instead of level 1. This makes needing to find water on Bonewrack more logical, and it will also make the encounter with the Dominator in book 2 more logical.
4. At the end of the book I told my players they knew of three places to squib a ship: 1) rickety squib, 2) kracken cove, and 3) Lilly White. Kracken Cove had the advantage of being closest and cheapest but you had to do your own squibbing (make your own carpentry checks) and the place just gave you the supplies. Lilly White was full service, and you could buy PC magic items easily there too but you had to risk sailing into the shackles. My players chose Kraken Cove. But the main point is I had 3 adventure ideas and it wasn't the illusion of choice - Rickety Squibs stayed on the main path, Kracken Cove had me borrow from the Savage Tide adventure path, and Lilly White would have led into Plunder and Peril. I'm trying to give my players some real freedom (and not just the illusion of freedom) in this campaign.
5. I added an item called the Pieces of Eight (link below). I wanted an item to pull the party together into a team since I placed no restrictions on playing an evil PC. When my players found them they were silver coins with a symbol of Besmara on one side and the image of my players (one each) on the other side. When one of my players went to grab them as loot (they were aboard the ship in salvage operation) I spilled onto the table wooden tokens where I had printed and glued the PCs picture and symbol of Besmara on each side. I spilled them in front of the player and he looked, paused, paused again, and said: I don't want to touch them. He ended up swiping them, but the impact was priceless. In my game, I'm linking to the Savage Tide adventure path so the entity that left them for my players comes from there.
Pieces of Eight:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43nr4?New-Artifact-Idea-to-Encourage-Party
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drsparnum wrote: That's fair James, and good to know I am not searching for something that doesn't exist.
I am getting ready to run Skulls and Shackles and was wondering which nation has the strongest navy, just for plot purposes.
Cheliax? Absalom? Taldor? Rahadoum?
That question is for anyone to speculate on. I know James can't speculate because if he says it, it becomes like a fact.
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That's fair James, and good to know I am not searching for something that doesn't exist.
I am getting ready to run Skulls and Shackles and was wondering which nation has the strongest navy, just for plot purposes.
Cheliax? Absalom? Taldor? Rahadoum?
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Welcome back Dudemeister. I'm gearing up to run this with my group after we finish our current Adventure Path where I'm a player. I saw a lot of great ideas from you from years ago.
Looks like a great beginning. I think I'll steal that song.
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How I am handling Melira getting on the ship:
My players will learn of the plan to get them on board Raag's ship from Halgra, but Raag isn't in town just yet - he is expected soon.
Then I will use the short side-quest with the ettin described in the issue to pull them out of town. It will be during this side-quest Raag actually arrives and then he waits for the players to board his ship on instruction from Halgra. This gives Melira a window to get stowed away. It also makes good use of this side quest.
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I don't have the answers you seek but I do have Nother question....
What year did the Starfall Doctrine start? I understand it was about events in 4606, but how long were adherents of the Starfall Doctrine waiting for 4606? Is this something that has been stated or something I should make up for my own game?
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Dudemeister! I am getting ready to run this AP and see a lot of your great posts from a decade ago. Game looks great.
How do you get advantage on the accuracy check?
Also, I would allow. DC15 Knowledge local to know that swilling grog helps with quality.
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These are really great recommendations. Thank you.
Professional underwater maps seem extra important in an underwater setting because there is an extra coolness factor to these places. The lich works particularly well because there is known lich on the loose in the Shackles (Raugsmauda).
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Hi, is there a way to search for the most liked posts in a section of the website? For example, I am planning to start running a new adventure path and would like to see the most liked threads in that section.
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This could be awesome but it will be tricky to get it right. The simplest thing is a side quest with just the witch where she seeks a scroll of plane shift. Next would be a side quest with all but the witch to go rescue her. Coolest would be to have everyone going simultaneously, but the hardest. Maybe you can contrive a plot where the players need to get to a certain pot in golariona dnthe witch a certain spot in he'll to link up reliably with a plane shift. Then you have one fight where the partybis fighting to get to that spot in golarion quickly, while the witch needs to hang in a dangerous spot in he'll suffering sporadic attacks. It will be. Oiler if they have a way to communicate e too.

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I thought the Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag soundtrack fit this campaign well. I went through and assigned songs from the soundtrack to particular events in the story. I pasted it below in case anyone wants to borrow it.
Adventure Part Story Arc Song Notes
Wormwood 1 Campaign Opens Buccanneers
Wormwood 1 Life Aboard Wormwood A Pirates Life
Wormwood 1 Jape's Keelhaul Fair thee Well
Wormwood 1 Salvage Operation Side-Trek Meet the Sage
Wormwood 2 Attack Man's Promise Men of War
Wormwood 3 Bonewrack Isle The Bucaneers
Wormwood 3 Mutiny Take What is Ours
Fever Sea 1 Squibbing A Merry Life and a Short One
Fever Sea 2 Piracy/Overall Ship Combat Main Theme (This is also overall ship combat music for the campaign)
Fever Sea 2 Navigation Life at Sea
(This is general shipboard planning music throughout the campaign)
Fever Sea 2 Encounter Dominator Ship of Legend
Fever Sea 3 Tidewater Rock I'll Be With You
Fever Sea 3 Isabella Locke Lay Aboard Lads
Fever Sea 3 Mancatcher Cove Queen Anne's Revenge
Fever Sea 3 Sahuagin Tribe Confrontation
Tempest Rising 1 Present at Port Peril Portobelo
(This is also general Port Peril music)
Tempest Rising 2 Investigate Spy Ring Modernity
Tempest Rising 2 Hell Harbor In the Midst
(This is also general Hell Harbor music)
Temepst Rising 2 Calistra Temple La Havana
(This is also general Quent music)
Tempest Rising 2 Temple of the Hidden Name Tampa Bay (This is also general Beachcomber music)
Tempest Rising 2 Apothecary Moderntiy
Tempest Rising 3 Regatta Batten Down the Hatches
Island of Empty Eye 1 Prize like no other Into the Jungle
Island of Empty Eye 2 Chelish Fort Marked for Death
Island of Empty Eyes 3 Ruins of Ghol Gan The Spanish Empire
Island of Empty Eyes 4 Feast Saba Island
Price of Infamy 1 Pirate Council Vote The British Empire
Price of Infamy 2 Islands of the Damned the Fortunes of Edward Kenway
Price of Infamy 3 The Black Tower The Ends of the Earth
Price of Infamy 4 Harrigan Fleet Battle On the Horizon
Price of Infamy 4 Harrigan's Fort Order of the Assasins
Hells Heart 1 Building to Chelish Armada Fight Last Goodbyes
Hells Heart 1 Chelish Armada In this world or the one below
Hells Heart 2 Fort Hazard Under the Black Flag
Hells Heart 3 Lucrehold Pyrates Beware
Plunder and Peril Lilywhite Tampa Bay
Any Poignant Moments Throughout The High Seas
Any Bloodcove Prizes Plunder and Adventure
(General Bloodcove music)
Any Ilizimagorti/Scuttlecove Palenque
(General Ilizimagorti music)
Any Senghor Stealing a Brig
(General Senghor music)
Any Ollo Secrets of the Maya
(General Ollo music)
Any Slipcove Saint Pierre
(General Slipcove music)
Music not placed/Saved for Side Treks
Stealing a Brig
Santa Lucia
Prison

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I am not an expert in sailing, but my understanding is that on earth the winds near the equator go up, rather than across. This phenomenon makes it very slow sailing through the equator. Something like this would probably happen on golarion. On earth these are called the doldrums.
The shackles, near as I can tell, are a bit north of golarion's equator. My plan is that the eye of abendo creates frequent choppy cross winds. Although this might make sailing more demanding it prevents the doldrums from forming. Thus this region is the easiest place to go over the equator anywhere on golarion. Hence a lot of intercontinental sailing is attracted to this region. Routes that might appear faster going up eastern gerund might actually be slower because of the doldrums, hence some ships risk the pirates and go up the west side of golarion forbspeed.
I like this idea because it is passably realistic and ties to the hurricaine...the regions iconic feature.

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I'm about to start GMing this one. I went through the first adventure and the notes from this message board (particularly the modifications Adam Smith proposed a couple of pages back).
To help myself I put together my best timeline of what happened prior to the start of the adventure. I'm posting here in case others find it useful...
Six months ago: Rodrick and Brinya begin dating secretly.
Six weeks ago: Rodrick and Brinya engage with Rodrick’s mother’s ring and exchange hopeknives.
Five weeks ago: Jaggrin finds out about Rodrick and Brinya; Bad blood between father and son; Rodrick stops staying in the Longhouse.
Three weeks ago: Skreed and his company arrive at the Plague House and begin searching using Skreed’s alcemical explosives and Akrish’s silence spells. A few days later, Akrish dies in an explosion.
Two weeks ago: Skreed, Daktani, Urnsul, Riska, Vorom, Akrish, 2 FT Thugs, 4 FT Assasins, Melira check-in at Ramblehouse and begin searching within Trunau. Urnsul starts working at Clamor soon after the band moves into Trunau.
Over the past two weeks: Meira starts painting crosses including the big one on the guard tower. Skreed continues sneaking in a couple orcs here, a couple orcs there.
Ten days ago: Cham complains to militia about the vandalized room, Rodrick investigates room and takes on the case, Skreed switches his band from the Ramblehouse to an abandoned flop house to avoid detection.
Nine days ago: Rodrick accidently loses the hopeknife Brinya gave him in room H5 of the Plague House and Rodrick encounters the flood troll.
Seven days ago: Rodrick confesses to Brinya he can’t find the hope knife she gave him; Rodrick starts talking with Katreza about graffiti in Ramblehouse, about town, and flood troll; Rodrick commissions a new hopeknife at Clamor
Day -6: Sara hands work on the hopeknife over to Urnsul.
Day –3: Daktani captures Othdan
Day -2: Rodrick meets with Katreeza for the last time, and entrusts his journal to Katrezra.
Day -1: Katreza leaves sanctuary in the early morning for safety, with Rodrick’s journal. Skreed sends Meira out of town so she’s not killed in the orc attack. Skreed has decided enough is enough with Rodrick and starts a plan he's been noodling on for the past few days ... Skreed asks Urnsul to steal Rodrick’s hopeknife. Urnsul steals the knife and gives it to Skreed who will use it as the murder weapon.
Day 0: During Hopeknife ceremony Skreed checks into room next to Rodricks after paying bribe to Cham. He sneaks into Rodrick’s room and drops his note to Meira accidently.
Day 0: Hopeknife ceremony.
Day 0: All sleep in Ramblehouse.
Day 1 Wee hours: Skreed kills Rodrick.
Day 1 Morning: Cham discovers the body.
Day 1: Urnsul disappears from Clamor, and goes to the flop house.
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This was the only Pathfinder AP I ran, but I’ve run APs in 3E and played a handful of Pathfinder APs. We rotate DM in my group. I ran the AP straight through.
1. I ran it for a party of 6-7 experienced players (varied by session). I boosted the number of mooks in the first half, then under-leveled my party and boosted mooks in the second half to keep some level of challenge. I highly recommend Harder Hakotep as others say above, but you’ll know long before your players get there if you need to juice the enemies.
2. This AP ranks medium on most lists ranking APs. I think it is better than it ranks. It is an AP that is better to play than to read, and what counts is how it plays.
3. Many APs suffer from introducing a new, stronger villain that has been there all along pulling the strings, but the party just did not know about that person until voila, we’re starting a new book. Mummy’s Mask does not suffer from this and it all plays very smoothly. Amazingly, although it does not suffer from this problem, it is possible to early exit the AP after the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th books. I still recommend running it all the way through, but it is an option you have and the story will seem coherent.
4. The toughest story parts to manage: 1) your treasure hunters have to become at least somewhat altruistic in book 2. It should not be hard to get a party to fight undead, but if your party is really mercenary, they could balk. I think this concern is more theoretical. 2) there is a possible red herring that could lead your party off the path to Sothis, as noted above.
5. I found it very helpful to print a black and white copy of every map and on that map pencil in any enemies, pencil in any traps (and DCs) and pencil in any skill checks needed to gain additional information on the map.
6. I had a player really invest in finding traps. To make traps more interesting I tried to add a trap to 1 room in each dungeon and add it to a room with a battle. So I had the rogue racing to disarm traps that were doing some harmful effect to the party in rounds until disarmed. For example, in a room where monsters are immune to fire add a column that shoots gouts of fire out during the fight until the rogue rushes there to disarm it. I wanted more dynamic traps …. More like Indiana Jones, and I did not want exploration/traps to be a thing where I’m talking to the player of the rogue and everyone else spaces out. And the DC varied based on the action (free, swift, move, standard, full-round) so a rogue with a very high disable device still benefits from that high skills as mid-fight he’s disarming traps very easily. Rogue feels good.
7. My favorite fight is easy to miss when you just read through…it’s the fight in the chasm at the end of book 3. I used blocks to indicate the three dimensions and the bridges, and had waves of enemies coming out as they prepared for the fight. It was a 19 round battle – very cool.
8. I also recommend reading the thread for each book. Lots of tips there. One person suggested making the end of book 5 a “hold the line” battle over 50 rounds. I did that and it also went well. People who make durable characters occasionally like to see a combat reward durability.
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My party complete the AP yesterday. Along the way I kept a journal. It is not beautiful prose but it is a no-nonsense record of my party's progress against a precisely maintained calendar. I share it as other DMs may find it useful.

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My players face off against Hakotep in our session next month (9/21). I'm planning to run Harder Hakotep + the golden guardians as described here. I will also add a clockwork reliquary that is slightly modified...the reliquary has a star metal vulnerability as I think it comes from another adventure path. These creatures have a 1% chance per round of combat of losing control (becoming confused). To protect himself from this eventuality Hakotep built the reliquary so that someone wearing the mask (he expected it to be him) could overcome the DR 15/epic.
In room E22 I will put some plates from the reliquary's armor plating. If my players make a DC 30 arcana check I will tell them these are parts of a clockwork reliquary, and these creatures are often built so that the designer carries an item that allows him to overcome the DR of the constructs powerful plating.
I have 7 players and all will make next session so it is:
1) Sayyid - human mobile fighter L16
2) Lady Rhiana - human undead scourge paladin L16
3) Mac - half-orc inqusitior Cayden Calian
4) Snrub - goblin rogue
5) Qualmi - gnome necromancer
6) Sahmdi - human cleric Toth
7) Anani - human air oracle

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GM SuperTumbler, I thought about your challenges some more, and here is what I propose assuming you don't want to force it on the rails.
1) Let the party down the Sky Pyramid in book 5 as written,
2) Hakotep will allow the PCs back into his good graces if they help him now repair his broken Sky Pyramid. To do that the party must travel to the lost city of Kho. You'll need to make up most of the content, but Hakotep has some kind of magic doo-dad to give them to make it easier. If you're looking for inspiration this novel may help (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13175620-city-of-the-fallen-sky).
3) Hakotep also needs an army. He asks the PCs to win over the savage elemental clans of Osirion. When the PCs interact with the clans they learn there is a special nexus constructed in the sands of eastern Osirion that create especially thin barriers between the elemental and material planes. This nexus is broken and must be repaired. If the PCs do this they will support Hakotep. Then you can repurpose much of the content from the 4 elemental crypts in book 6 to be the content for this part of the adventure.
4) Hakotep and his flying pyramids and the elemental clans lay siege to Tephu (Hakotep chooses this spot, if he needs to make an example of one city he'd like to pick the one with the closest connection to Nethys). This draws the Osirion army away from Nethys. At this time the PCs need to sneak/deceive/battle their way into the palace in Sothis, defeat the Ruby Prince's guards and capture (alive) the Ruby Prince so he can surrender to Hakotep. I don't want to give a lot of spoilers but there is a Kingmaker adventure you can grab for this battle and re-skin it to Osirion and adjust the power level.
Then...Hakotep triumphs. And true to his word, the PCs receive senior positions in the new Osirion government from Hakotep.

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I plan a few tweaks to the final section of the final book…Hakotep’s inner sanctum. I’m seeking to give the section some level of time urgency so my players don’t sleep and stock up between each battle. Also, I’m seeking to make Hakotep a bit more proactive in defending his home base.
1) Once the players cross the gates in the air crypt, I will warn them that if they go further turning back will take a miracle. Out of game I want this to be a point of no return, but I recognize I may need to give them some wiggle room if a player dies and no one left alive has the means to bring that person back to life. In game my plan is to require the casting of miracle or wish + succeeding at a DC25 caster level check for living creatures to escape the inner sanctum without defeating Hakotep. The inner sanctum is divided into 3 sections with additional teleport rooms – to up the ante I plan to require one miracle or wish for living creatures to return through each teleport gate. I’m pretty open to the PCs teleporting to a city and buying just about anything off the shelf of the Ultimate Equipment guide but I do want there to ideally be one purchase before heading in and that’s it.
2) I plan to make Hakotep a guy into constructs as a hobby. He needs a hobby, and this seems like a good hobby for the rich and famous of his day, and he seems to like technology and already has a bunch of golems in the room with him. Each evening my players sleep in the inner sanctum Hakotep will send one of his constructs after the PCs. I haven’t worked it out yet but I am imagining accelerating challenges of golems from things like…those set constructs in the adventure path, pantheon golem, a steel predator, a clockwork dragon, a clockwork reliquary (the latter 3 I have the mini for and really want a chance to use them).
3) I will likely need to boost the final encounter just because I have a lot of PCs. But subjectively, if I feel like the PCs took their time getting to Hakotep I plan to further add additional constructs from the list above to make the encounter harder. He’s been working on this stuff since he came back to un-life, and the longer the players take the more productive he will have been.
Another group could also have Neferuset summon an increasing number of things for her encounter and dispatch an escalating number of outsiders at the PCs if the DM feels the players are too slow. I won’t be able to do this because I think my players will face her with just 3 PCs in this particular session but it is an option. Too bad for me too….I sorely wanted to use my huge spawn of chuluthu mini.

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It's a fairly different campaign and will require a lot of work on your part but I believe Hakotep would welcome the PCs for the help and reward the assistance and loyalty (after the PCs complete a quest to fix Hakotep's pyramid after they shoot it out of the sky,to return to his good graces). You now need a battle between the current government and Hakotep + PCs.
Possible roles for the PCs would be an assassination effort against the Ruby Prince or some kind of mass combat battle system. I'm inclined to think it would be easier to do the assassination in the context of D&D but you know your party.
Maybe Hakotep strikes a bargain with the savage elemental clans and while the army is battling those clans as a diversion the PCs must sneak into Sothis, defeat the Risen Guard, and take the current Pharaoh hostage so he can properly abdicate to Hakotep? You can get Khemet III's stats in the Osirion source book. As I recall he is L17.
It is within reason for a party of L16-17 characters to achieve this.
Good luck!
Good references:
https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Osirion
https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Khemet_III
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Sorry Folkish. My players saw swarms coming and immediately cast get away.
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Thanks Terrepin. I wrote this text as Tef-Naju's contract:
I, Tef-Naju, Shaitan Magus, in recognition of the threat posed by the aeromatic infadibulum powered flying cities of the Shory to Osirion, do commit to defend the Khepsutanem’s construction site and the Khepsutanem for the Osirion Pharaoh Hakotep until the Pharaoh Hakotep succeeds in grounding an aeromatic infadibulum powered creation.
I, Hakotep, Pharaoh of Osirion, in recognition of the threat posed by aeromatic infadibulum powered Shory cities, do agree to payment to Shaitan Magus Tef-Naju the treasures listed in Appendix 1 after the first occasion when the Khepsutanem overcome the an aeromatic infadibulum.

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Here is the text of a handout I prepared for the scrivener's wall. There are two sections specific to my campaign (the part where my PCs are named, and the part where another party attacks the pyramid) but I share it here in case an interested party wants to adapt it...
Scrivener’s Wall
Handwriting 1: Aunt Isatemkhebet, it is your nephew, the Sky Pharaoh Hakotep I, can you read me?
Handwriting 2: Yes, my pharaoh. How may I serve?
Handwriting 1: I have arisen from the dead and begun my plan to reclaim the throne of Osirion. What is your status?
Handwriting 2: Ready to serve my pharaoh. The Five-Pointed Sun is airborne.
Handwriting 1: Fly to Wati. Destroy them unless the church hands over the Iron Scarab: Lady Rhian the paladin, Sahmdi the cleric, Snrub the wizard rogue who is vulnerable to dispel magic, Qualmi the necromancer, Sayyid the fighter who may be dominated, and Anani the oracle, who has minions vulnerable to dismissal. Adjunct members may include a gynosphinx Tetisurah, an inquisitor Mac, a cavalier Jasper Ra, an archaeologist Sallah, and a snow queen sorceress Elsa. They also possess my funerary mask. You must recover my funerary mask so that I may reunite with my soul and return to life to begin my second and eternal reign over Osirion.
Handwriting 2: Yes, my pharaoh.
Handwriting 1: Aunt Isatemkhebet, preparations are underway to raise the tombs of the 15 other generals from the sands of Osirion to the skies above. When ready, we will attack all Osirion’s cities and demand the loyalty of the citizens and leaders to me, the reborn Sky Pharaoh.
Handwriting 2: Yes, my pharaoh.
Handwriting 2: My pharaoh, I have arrived in Wati and issued your demand. Four other adventurers attacked. They were held in high regard by the people of Wati. The Voices of the Sun defeated the defiant. They made a good example to Wati of Your might. I destroyed the home of the defiant with the Five-Pointed Sun to underscore the example.
Handwriting 1: Your progress pleases me. If you perform well I will name you Supreme Commander of the 16 flying pyramids that will retake my kingdom.
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I added rules for exorcising Hakotep from the Forgotten Pharaoh in book 4 (see the Secret of the Sphinx thread). They are my own rules, but I started from the occult rules for exorcism when I created these rules. my players have not entered the Sphinx yet, so I can't say how it went.

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I added some rules for excising Hakotep from the Forgotten Pharaoh and pasted them below. This exorcism will deprive the PCs of combat with the Forgotten Pharaoh but I'm okay with that for a few reasons: 1) this combat looked pretty easy, 2) there is plenty of other combat in this adventure, and even in this dungeon, 3) an exorcism is a fairly iconic scene in literature and I've never had one in D&D. I think my PCs will remember an exorcism better than another fight. Here are my notes, which I think are of sufficient detail for others to use if you wish. They are inspired by, and adapted from, the occult ritual rules. I have up to 7 PCs in a session and tried to make this a 50/50 thing. You may wish to adapt with a smaller party. Feedback welcome and if you use it I would like to hear how it goes. I don't think my party will get here for a few more months.Mummy’s Mask Exorcism Ritual with 7 PCs
Exorcise Hakotep from the Forgotten Pharaoh.
1 PC acts as the ritual lead, any number of other secondary PCs within 30 feet of Hakotep and the leader can assist. Lead PC must succeed at a bluff, intimidate, knowledge religion or sense motive check (the lead PCs choice) vs. Hakotep’s concentration check (+34, using Harder Hakotep from this post: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2v6qi?Harder-Hakotep). The opposed checks play out over a series of rounds, and the PCs must succeed at 3 checks before Hakotep succeeds at 4 (think balls/strikes from baseball; ties go to the PCs). If the PCs physically attack Hakotep during the ritual the exorcism is disrupted. As long as the PCs come within 10 of Hakotep’s check (e.g., the PCs check is 48 and Hakotep’s check is a 58) then Hakotep is functionally stunned as he must devote all of his efforts to the ritual.
The PCs can learn of this ritual with a DC25 knowledge religion check. The PCs are entitled to this check either because 1) the possibility of possession or an exorcism occurs to the players and the players ask, or 2) upon first seeing Hakotep a PC succeeds at a DC 25 sense motive check where the PC realizes the possibility of possession, and then another PC succeeds at the knowledge religion check.
Secondary PCs may assist in a number of ways:
1. Up to once each round, a secondary PC who succeeds at a bluff, intimidate, knowledge religion, or sense motive check DC31 adds +5 to the lead PCs check. Each of these checks can only be done once (e.g., 2 PCs cannot both make bluff checks) and they must be different from the skill check of the lead PC (e.g., if the lead PC is using bluff then a secondary bluff check is not allowed). [once the players know about the possibility of an exorcism ritual a PC needs to make a DC25 knowledge religion check for the party to be aware of the ability to supplement the ritual with these skill checks]
2. Up to once each round, a paladin may use the lay on hands ability on Hakotep’s body. This use does not actually heal or harm Hakotep, but if the lay on hands roll would have otherwise healed at least 10 hp then the lead PC receives +5 to his check [once the players know about the possibility of an exorcism ritual a PC needs to make a DC25 knowledge religion check for the party to be aware of the ability to supplement the ritual with these skill checks]
3. Turn Undead that overcomes Harder Hakotep. Hakotep’s will saving throw is +21. If Hakotep fails this save the lead PC receives +5 to his check for 10 rounds. [once the players know about the possibility of an exorcism ritual a PC needs to make a DC25 knowledge religion check for the party to be aware of the ability to supplement the ritual with these skill checks]
4. A caster can cast any of the following spells to add a bonus to the lead PC’s check. The spell is consumed but has no other game effect. The check bonus is equivalent to the level of the spell x2 (e.g., bless adds +2 to the check, dispel magic adds +6).
a. The relevant divine spells are: bless, hide from undead, calm emotions, consecrate, lesser restoration, dispel magic, magic circle against good, magic circle against law, prayer, remove curse, searing light, restoration, break enchantment, hallow, Dispel Good, Dispel Chaos, Dispel Magic, greater, Heal, Undeath to Death, Holy Word, Greater Restoration, Word of Chaos, Dimensional Lock, Miracle. [once the players know about the possibility of an exorcism ritual a PC needs to make a DC25 knowledge religion check for the party to be aware of the ability to supplement the ritual with these skill checks]
b. The relevant arcane spells are: Command undead, dispel magic, magic circle against law, magic circle against good, halt undead, dimensional anchor, break enchantment, greater dispel magic, undeath to death, control undead, limited wish, dimensional lock, freedom, wish. [once the players know about the possibility of an exorcism ritual a PC needs to make a DC25 knowledge arcana check for the party to be aware of the ability to supplement the ritual with these skill checks]
5. A prepared secondary PC can consume 500 gp worth of specifically prepared exorcism materials to grant a +5 to the lead PC’s check.
Outcomes:
1. If Hakotep succeeds in 4 checks before the PCs succeed at 3, then Hakotep cannot be exorcised for 101 days. Most likely the party will need to slay the Forgotten Pharaoh. Shrugging off the ritual strengthens the connection with the Forgotten Pharaoh granting her 14d6 temporary hit points.
2. If the PCs succeed, but Hakotep succeeded at 3 checks in the process then Hakotep is severed but the Forgotten Pharaoh is also killed.
3. If the PCs succeed, but Hakotep succeeds at 2 checks in the process, then Hakotep is severed and the Forgotten Pharaoh is killed. However, Hakotep’s ib is also affected in the process giving the party time to craft new magic items before Wati is attacked.
4. If the PCs succeed and Hakotep succeeds at only 0-1 checks in the process, then Hakotep is severed and the Forgotten Pharaoh survives. In gratuity the Forgotten Pharaoh offers her assistance to the PCs. Grant her the craft ring feat. She offers to use the treasure she has to craft rings for the party. She will also take treasure supplied by the party to her and use her craft ring feat to forge additional rings for the party. If the party prefers, she can also accompany them on the rest of the adventure.
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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
Your players are lucky to have you.

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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
I'll just keep a running total here. The party's name is The Iron Scarab.
Name: Snrub
Race: Goblin
Classes/levels:Rogue 4/Wizard 1
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Outside of Kawab Village
Catalyst: Killed by Velriana Hypaxes's revenant.
The Gory Details:
Snrub had a crush on Velriana (and all female NPCs, he worships Baset) from the half-dead city. Snrub was scouting out the Kawab village alone when Velriana appeared with the Army of Darkness line, "You found me beautiful once." Snrub ran back to the group. In the fight he tried to stealth into position but couldn't hold up against her full attack. He had disgraced her corpse, so I ruled she got all her bonuses against him.
Name: Elsa the Snowqueen
Race: Human
Classes/levels:Sorceress 6 (boreal)
Adventure: Empty Graves
Location: Sepulcher of the Servant
Catalyst: Killed by Naghut.
The Gory Details:
Party encountered the Crypt Thing and teleporting burst separated two of the five PCs from the main party. The Inquisitor went east and so was in the relatively benign room with all the beds. The sorceress went North West and found herself alone with Naghut. Naghut made short work of the sorceress. Naghut paralyzed her and knocked her unconscious. She bled out before the rest of the party could defeat the crypt thing, defeat Naghut, and get to her.

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I've nearly completed DMing this adventure. I added traps that played out during combat to each dungeon for three reasons: 1) My party includes a rogue and an archaeologist bard so I wanted to reward them for having multiple trap disarmers, 2) My party is large (n=6) so I need to up the challenge a bit, and 3) I wanted traps integrated into combat to maximize excitement and prevent trap searching and disarming to become a conversation between the rogue and DM between combats.
The Tomb:
In the tomb of Akhempti I had a hidden Sandling in one room and a difficult to spot trap. When half the party moved forward the door closed and locked. This left the first half of the party to fight an earth elemental and the second half of the party to fight a sandling in two separate simultaneous combats. After the rogues team (the front team fighting the elemental) finished the elemental the rogue had to to work quickly to unlock the door to reconnect the two groups (the sandling side was having a tough time as the soft underbelly of the party). A close call but all PCs survived.
The House:
In the House of Pentheru I added a 40' x 40' room with alternating black and white squares (like a chess board) to the tomb section. On the opposite side of the room I had an animated medium-size construct in the shape of sphinx (with the haunted and ranged powers) prowl before a (false) guilded door. Hieroglyphs on the wall read "Knight Two Moves." Every square on the chest board that any of the 4 knights can reach in two moves from starting positions was actually a 5' deep spiked pit (perception DC 12; reflex DC 12 or fall and take 1d6 damage and need to climb out). In this way the rogues trapsense ability came into play as he had to identify the safe squares to stand. I also allowed a DC 20 intelligence check to "solve" the puzzle but none of the PCs made it. I allowed an appraise check (DC 20 from afar; DC 15 up close) to tell the gold door in the back was false and fake and one of my players made that check. One of my players later told me he (but not his character) kind-of figured it out and knew it was a chess thing. In the end the players popped into this room and needed to retreat. They next cleared the whole tomb, then rested, and took out this room on their terms.
The Temple:
In the Temple I've added a third trap in the basement before the final room. The room contains a hungry [the hungry template*] gelatinous cube with a metal coil inside. The floor is wired so that when the cube moves it creates an electric current that damages the party. Four fuse boxes line the walls. The party will take electric damage every other round (Reflect DC 13 to save for half) depending on the number of intact fuse boxes - 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 2d6. The fuse boxes can also be disabled So the party can either kill the cube to end the trap (which stops the metal coil from moving) or the rogue/bard can work on disabling fuse boxes while the cube battle occurs to reduce damage from the electric trap. I've house-ruled these fuse-boxes can be disabled in 1d4 rounds with a DC 10 check, or in 1 round with a DC 20 check. I've not run this final one yet, so I can't say how it will go.
*The hungry template involves penalties to some attributes where the cube is already at a 1. I broke the rules and still added in penalties to the cubes stats as appropriate.

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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
One of my players is playing some kind of wind-based oracle, who can adjust existing wind speed. Therefore, I needed a mechanism to determine the current wind speed on any given day. I created the chart below using some historical wind data from an airport in Egypt, and the wind categories used in Pathfinder.
It might make significant winds a bit more common than they actually are in Egypt, but they are still pretty rare.
I post it below in the unlikely event someone else needs this obscure information...
Roll d1000.
001-774 = Light Winds
775 - 874 = Moderate Winds
875-949 = Strong Winds
950-975 = Severe Winds
976-999 = Severe winds + dust storm
1000-1024 = Windstorm + dust storm
1025 – 1027 = Windstorm + Greater Dust storm
1028-1029: Hurricane Force Winds + greater dust storm
1,030 = Tornado force winds + greater dust storm
Monthly Effects
Add 10 in March, April, May and August
Add 20 in June and July
Time Effects
Add 10 between 5-8 PM
Functionally, if your first d10 rolls a 1-6 you don't even need to reference this table, we know it is light winds.
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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
I had a free PDF hypertext downloaded copy of the Pathfinder SRD, and now I can’t find it on my computer. Does anyone have a link? I particularly appreciated its nononsense, text-heavy, appearance … which looked like a detailed report … which made it look like I was actually reading a detailed report to people who casually passed by my computer…. in case I wanted to read it from a place where I should be reading detailed reports and not the Pathfinder SRD.

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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
The return would be the additional sales on the old converted adventurers to customers who otherwise would not have bought the unconverted adventure.
The obvious part of the cost would be the cost to convert the adventures. But there is another cost. A conversion likely would also lead to lost sales of the new Pathfinder adventures because some groups bought older converted adventures instead. Each additional download of old adventures cannot be counted as pure extra revenue to Paizo it would not have seen, because to some extent the updated adventures would be cannibalizing the sale of the new adventures.
While converting the old adventures might grow the overall adventure market a bit, to some extent the market may be saturated. How many adventures can players reasonably play? I'm still waiting to run my group through Savage Tide. I agree with above posters.
If I was running an older adventure I would pay $2 to have it converted for me. Still, that doesn't look like it's in the cards. Therefore, I recommend that as you convert things from old adventures you post it in a thread. Then others will follow suit with their conversions in the relevant thread. That should save you some work, and let you help out your fellow DM.

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Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber
Is it possible to further enhance the specific armors and weapons in the book?
I'm specifically interested in building a better celestial armor (more AC bonus, and/or more Max Dex bonus). I see challenges though. For example, with celestial armor, you would need to retro fit the cost of a suit of +3 chainmail (easy enough), the cost of adding a 1/day fly (possible...probably a +x gp type ability), and a very high max dex bonus (I'm not sure how you would determined the cost of this/point of dexterity, but it should scale exponentially).
Are you supposed to be able to do this? How would you do this?
It seems like a lot of interesting items like celestial armor don't see much use at the game table because for any given PC they're only good for a few levels. Before that the player cannot afford it, and after that the player can afford something better. If you can't upgrade them like normal weapons and armor they can be a bit costly.
FYI...
Celestial Armor (22,400 gp)
This bright silver or gold +3 chainmail is so fine and light that it can be worn under normal clothing without betraying its presence. It has a maximum Dexterity bonus of +8, an armor check penalty of –2, and an arcane spell failure chance of 15%. It is considered light armor and allows the wearer to use fly on command (as the spell) once per day.
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