erucsbo's page

erucsbo wrote:

Any rules on whether a caster can ride their own heightened carryall?

Could make it easier to cross difficult terrain, get a 30' movement speed (good for small casters), and undetectable to tremorsense.

This is a very old thread.

But yes, contrary to what Cellion wrote, when you heighten Carryall to 4th rank, creatures can ride atop it:

Quote:

Heightened (4th) The platform can carry 10 Bulk, creatures can ride atop it, and it can hover in the air, not just on the ground.

It's a very convenient form of "movement" for pretty much the entire day (8 hours), and it's not limited to a single creature either: e.g. if your Sprite Witch and her familiar want to ride atop it together, they totally can.

Though do note that it is not actual "movement" in rules terms: Sustaining the spell is not a move action, so it doesn't trigger reactions based on movement. It's also possible to drop prone and Take Cover on it as well, "moving" the platform instead of standing/crawling/moving yourself. However, you're very vulnerable to Shove, as that takes you off the platform – Reposition is usually not enough (only push/pull forced movement can take you off a ledge).

Thanks, and yes, I know it is an old thread, but it was the only one that search showed up as mentioning Carryall so figured I'd jump on that rather than start a new thread.

Good points on the difference between movement and "move" action.
I like finding unusual uses for spells (and items) that increase their utility, so I'm looking for as much info on this as I can (and yes I am aware of the 1e Magic Trick feat for Floating Disk, and shulsagas).

One other possibility is that multiple authors could better divide their areas of expertise.

The 5th module of the Ironfang Invasion adventure path had a weird gap in its story. The module began in the dwarven Sky-Citadel of Kraggodan, where the PCs had ended the previous module. Their dwarven ally Karburtin Lightbrand persuades them to run an errand for Kraggodan to go to the Blighted Region deep in the Fangwood in order to discover the fate of the missing goddess Gendowyn, Lady of Fangwood. After 2 pages of establishing this plot hook, the scene jumps 75 miles north to deep in the Fangwood. My players objected to that, because that 75 miles would be heading through territory conquered by the Ironfang Legion and they wanted to fight the legion on the way north. So I wrote new material for that journey.

Perhaps author Amanda Hamon Kunz skipped that journey to reduce the page count. Or maybe she skipped it because she would have had to review the first three modules and the overall invasion plan in order to write material that fits the main theme of the adventure path but would be only a side theme to Prisoners of the Blight.
...

It was handwaved on p8 "At this point, the PCs likely have access to magical means of transportation, such as greater teleport or overland flight."

Expectation IMHO is that if the party didn't have access to that sort of magical transportation, that Karburtin could play Uber-driver for them.
But yes it did seem like a big assumption and side quest.

Head off, not dead? Wondering what would happen if people swapped heads (shades of Head of Vecna here - and for those who don't get this reference I won't spoil it for you - look it up and have a good chuckle).

I think a merchant archetype shouldn't involve crafting.

Being a merchant (trader) is different from someone who crafts items. I think you shouldn't dilute the idea of the archetype by trying to do too much(although a dedicated crafting archetype is probably as valid as a merchant one).

[...].

you could do it within the Archetype.

erucsbo wrote:

anyone have the rusalkas in G2 flood the chamber?

By my reckoning one of them could raise the water level up to 40', but that would essentially spill out and flood G1, G3, G4, G5, G7, and G8 before spilling down the hole in G9.
No saving throw or spell resistance, so without flight or good swim skill (and insofar as this AP is concerned I'd be surprised if anyone invested in Swim), anyone west of G2 is likely to be swept into the pit in G9 (if they don't catch a stalagmite or get caught by a roper).

Is this how you ended up playing it? I like the idea of this encounter but surely this would wash away PCs and all the creatures in subsequent areas and create an encounter soup around the hole in G9?

One started raising the level but it didn't last long. The rusalkas were killed before the party moved further in. My campaign details are in the "How are your APs doing thread" and the rusalka encounter is in this post.

Could use the grid and building resources from Kingmaker, it won't be an exact map but would at least be representational of what exists in the town?

Didn't have Kingmaker until the recent Humble Bundle (which still has 18 days to go), so will have a look thanks.

...

The Wizard is not a complex class. There is nothing inherently more difficult to playing a Wizard than any other prepared caster.

The "higher difficulty curve" often cited to the Wizard comes from the Wizard have fewer and weaker options outside of spell preparation. The Wizard's function and role lives and dies on largely on spell preparation alone.

True. That has been my experience. But if you skimp on the actual preparation of spells (i.e. optimize a generic spell list) then imho you're playing to weakness rather than strength.

...

The 4 slot prepared caster with access to the largest spell list. Versatility is meant to be their jam.

The problem is, it's not really. Not anymore. And it's why the change to the school system is so fundamentally wrongheaded.
...
"Having less" is also something that ripples across the whole Wizard design.

The nerfing of schools for spells for the specialist slot showcased that.

...

Once people will stop considering that a Wizard has to adapt to the unforseeable future and start concentrating on optimizing spell lists for the average adventuring day, the Wizard will be both less complex and more efficient.
...

I'm calling b!!#~#%% on this.

If earthbind is cast on a creature flying over water, does the falling stop when it hits the water (assuming it is within 120')? Or does it continue to sink towards the "earth" / "ground"?
Same if netting is rigged above the ground? Effectively grappling the earthbind target as it sinks through layers of nets?
Earthbind over Grease to force a Reflex Save / Acrobatic check or fall prone, making getting away even more difficult?

Some of the benefits from the Remaster are things that I doubt I would ever use. Do I care that Wizards can now use all simple weapons? Not really. Why would I use a weapon when I have cantrips that do more damage, especially now that Needle Darts is available?
The change to some of the feats is nice (Conceal Spell), but as already has been mentioned this just brings the wizard up to some of the abilities of others without letting it shine in its own space.
Likewise with some of the spells - though this makes them more useful to arcane sorcerers than wizards.
I don't play "bang" mages. I prefer to use magic to do things that others can't do - change the rules of engagement and throw opponents off their guard. Makes for a more memorable game (imho), lets the martials shine in dealing damage (they are the blunt instrument in "my" toolbox"), and helps me showcase intelligent play over brute strength or magical blasting might.
The wizard (imho) should be the one who always has another (magical) trick up the sleeve. They should never try and beat someone else at the other person's game, but force/trick the other into playing by the wizard's rules instead.

Arcane Bond is nice as a pull a rabbit out of the hat - but you have to have worn the right hat earlier in the day (to horribly mangle the metaphor).
Arcane Thesis allows for some shifting of resources but is essentially a zero-sum game - so a bit of flexibility but no net advantage.
Arcane School has been fully nerfed and makes the new schools more like "sorcerer-love" than focus on an aspect of magic.

What would I do?
I haven't thought it through too much but for Arcane Bond I would give more benefits - like using it to increase the DC of a spell by 1, or extend the duration of a spell by a round, or other things to show a mastery of magic - at the expense of using it to recast an already cast spell.
Arcane Thesis should allow the wizard to get more out of items - use a wand twice per day (limit number or wands or level of wands), or add extra spells to a staff (beyond what Staff Nexus initially allows), or flat check to reuse a scroll, or things like that.
Again - these are just top of mind but I feel play more to distinguishing a wizard from the other spellcasters than drawing them closer.

The new schools seriously limit the value of the extra school spell slot. While I haven't played much 2e yet, I have an illusionist at the moment and except for a few spells improving in the remaster, overall it feels like I'm going backwards.
For me the value of wizards was all about the ability to plan and have a spell for everything. The premier magic-user in the game. It certainly seems like the other spell-casting classes have been shown far more love to bring them up to wizard levels (and have their other tricks and benefits as well) while wizards have to suffer the limits of the tools that were traditionally theirs (wands, staves, scrolls, etc.)

N9ne of mine has shipped, no pdfs, no response from CS. No updates here.

same - emailed 4 days ago and <crickets chirping>.

Glad to hear that others (especially in Straya) have received books. Still waiting on PDFs here after emailing last week. :-(

we have completed the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path

I used Opportune Parry and Riposte and Dodging Dance and at the end Azaersi got another go with Cheat Death.
Killed the Trickster and Fighter and sent the eidolon away as well as a last gasp attack.
Party managed to trap one of the obsidian golems in Create Pit.
I gave Azaersi displacement and a ring of spell turning and bumped up her equipment as well. Also had Azaersi and Zanathura with True Seeing.

They had watched the party and had prepared, casting the longer duration spells as soon as the mana battery was discharged.
Also had energy resistance to fire and cold.

Rolled really well for Azaersi and with auto crit x4 on 17-20 she did significant damage and taking out the Trickster (party healer) early certainly slowed the fighter being able to keep getting filled up after taking damage. Resorted to begging the Enthroned King for temp hit points before going down after another couple of critical hits from Azaersi.

Ended up being the eidolon using blind sight that landed enough hits on Azaersi to force her to use Cheat Death.
A bit of extra summoning went on with 3 ice elementals, 3 angels, 3 centipede swarms all joining the fight.
Spell turning never got used - was hoping the Summoner would try a Dismissal but only spells used were area of effect or ray (disintegrate).

Could have been more casualties if Zanathura had lasted another round but the Fighter was extra keen to make sure she was paste before engaging Azaersi.

On to Ruins of Azlant next but will lurk here to see how others go, so please post your campaign updates.

If you decide to advance things so that the PCs get to have 20th level characters before the end of the AP - just know that the rogue capstone is wicked. Of the 4 Ironfang Shadows, Azlowe and 3 Witcheater Cultists, and Henra with 4 Ironfang Honor Guards encountered so far in the assault on the Citadel, only 1 Shadow, 1 Cultist, and 1 Honor Guard have survived being one-shotted by the rogue.
Actually one of the Honor Guards was baleful polymorphed before the rogue had her action (full round of sneak attack with bow).
Greater Invisibility (on the rogue) plus sniper goggles = sneak attack at any distance. And with skill unlock on Sense Motive to give bonus to initiative she clears most of the field before they get a chance to act.

...

It used the magic sandbox to create a 3d model of the Onyx Citadel and explained its floorplan to the party. ...

Thankfully my players didn't think to ask that, as I might have come up with bogus maps if they did as the citadel (and towers) can be rearranged.

p34 "It can display a detailed model of the Onyx Citadel, reflecting the castle as it was long before the Ironfang Legion overran it."

Wizard cast Polymorph Any Object on the fighter to turn him into a duplicate - sneaky way to get a permanent +2 strength, but we'll see if Dispel Magic ends up knocking it off.
Party wind walked across Argent Lake then spied out the Citadel (rogue with skill unlock on perception and a spyglass can essentially see forever), before deciding to teleport behind the hobgoblins in H23.
It was over before the hobgoblins got a chance to react and the fighter stuffed the bodies in a spare type IV bag of holding as the rogue's familiar (faerie dragon) cast silent image to make it look to the patrolling gargoyles like the hobgoblins were still there.
Bypassed the alarm in H24 and combat is about to start in H25.
If they are quick and go in the right direction they could get to the encounter with Azaersi while 3/4 of the citadel are unaware of the incursion.

...

I am also trying to mentally untangle the 35 rooms in the Onyx Citadel in preparation for the party arriving there. It is quite a maze. ...

And there is no guarantee that the PCs will enter via the main entrance, especially given flight and dimensional travel are commonplace.

I'm having to add extra defenses to every opening - since the PCs have been watched in previous encounters (either by reports from those involved or by the crystal ball - which I changed to have True Sight instead of Telepathy).

...

The PCs would love safe and boring battles, but the players themselves want excitement. Thus, we end up with what my players did: the PCs trained the NPCs, the NPCs demonstrated their good training to make the players proud, and then the party left the NPCs behind (to protect the town or some other excuse) to avoid slowing down the game.

Similar here though I think my players just want to kill and loot so will take any opportunity to have their characters do it (though surprisingly they have managed a few encounters recently through diplomacy - not with the Ironfang though).

I'm confused about what the militia is supposed to be doing during this book. Whether or not you're using the subsystem, the PCs are still working with a group of warriors wanting to defend their homeland. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to bring their militia to attack the keeps, rather than doing everything themselves?

They aren't warriors wanting to defend their homeland. They are displaced villagers trying to stay alive and make a living (which sometimes means taking up arms to defend / protect themselves or harry an enemy in the hope that they go away).

Bringing the refugees along to fights that aren't directly involving them will likely get many of them killed - which wouldn't help the PCs' reputation.

If you want to keep them involved then use them as scouts and messengers.

But, it's your game, so if the players want to build their own army rather than be the strikeforce themselves then go ahead.

Couple of sessions since last update

Encounter with Oktar went predictably with the eidolon rushing in and saying "surrender or die" then proceeding to attack without waiting for a reply. This was while half the party (including fighter and wizard) were still in the southern exhibition room. He only got a to down an extract of greater invisibility and say that they were fighting without honour and that they might be better to work against a common enemy first before he was cut down.

Trickster decided to disintegrate the front of the vat holding the invisible goblin and coup de grace it as the rest moved on.

Amazingly there was compliance with the clockwork angel's demands and the group successfully moved past it and the sandmen before meeting Ziguch.
Everyone saved vs the mind fog (in fact there wasn't a single failed save on either side in the first couple of rounds).
The party noticed the immortal ichor in round 2 and the wizard shapechanged into a gorgon and breathed on it - first failed save - petrified ichor.
The ichor failed its second save to get out of it, and while not breathed on again - enough damage was done by the fighter and spellcasters to shatter the petrified ichor and free Ziguch.

Sandbox was used and Ziguch dismissed the party saying that they could take what they wanted except for the rod (powering the lights) and not to interrupt the experiments.

On leaving the archive Kraelos was outside stonehome making demands (I added an extra troop as well).
Once again the party decided that as it was Ironfang hobgoblins the appropriate response was to enter into "extreme negotiations" - meaning kill them all quickly.

Buffing the rogue with greater invisibility and letting her fire off goblin-bane arrows at Kraelos (and her faerie dragon familiar dropping the largest bead from the newly acquired necklace) left Kraelos one small hit from death before he even got a chance to act.
The fighter charged in and missed with a 1, but the eidolon got in a swing and off flew the hobgoblin's head. The troops put up a bit more of a fight and did some damage with their volleys, but when the wizard shapechanged (it was still active) into a dragon and breathed a couple of times (coupled with the damage output from the fighter and rogue and another couple of beads from the necklace) it was game over.

Reverse Gravity by the wizard on Shaakhib and the golem. I had the genie sink his foot into the earth to stay grounded and the golem punched the ground and held on before they both managed to move themselves out of the area of effect.
Attacks on Shaakhib revealed the Shield Other effect.
Wizard caught Shaakhib in an Icy Prison and the fighter pushed it back into the reverse gravity area but Shaakhib Plane Shifted away.
[There was a bit of table discussion about whether or not the icy prison would go as well. In the end we had it shift with the genie though I originally had it stay, and after doing a bit more research probably would have it stay behind.]
Golem got a breath of gas on the eidolon but didn't really stand a chance.
Archive next and the sandmen. Everyone passed the sleep effect (multiple times) so didn't take too long for them to get whacked as well.

bump to L19.
Stone Road to the Vault has been taken and pech encountered. The fighter offered booze as a welcome.
Since we were playing on St Patrick's Day, pech now talk with an Irish accent.
Picnic in front of Stonehome was interrupted with the arrival of Shaakhib. Party managed to make themselves hidden before the shaitan gave his ultimatum. Scrying sensor was detected and pech refused the ultimatum.
We stopped at the initiative roll.

Level 17 for the war council at the beginning of book 6.
Level 18 for the attack on Fort Phaendar.
Now level 19 for the journey to the vault.
and I'll let them get to 20 before the final battle.

Yes it has meant that encounters need beefing up (added hps for some, better AC and to hit), but also allowed me to slip in some extra feats to make life a little trickier - Greater Feint for Scabvistin worked well.

4 level 18 PCs, eidolon, L18 NPC rogue, and 2 summoned angels were always going to be more than a match for Scabvistin and his honour guard, but the honour guard managed to stun the eidolon and with Scanbvistin did enough damage to get the summoner to dismiss the eidolon before it died.
I gave Scabvistin Improved and Greater feint and added longarm to his duelist vambraces.
Feinting on the fighter enabled sneak attack damage for all of the bugbear's attacks (though some were mitigated by the fighter's light fortification armour).
The summoner (invisible) started to summon again but Scabvistin heard her and told the Honour Guard to 'get the spellcaster' so it used abundant step and quivering palm (beat the total concealment and made the hit). Summoner failed the save, but still had Groger's 'gift'.
Gave the summoner's player the choice of going with a random roll for race or one I had chosen. She trusted me enough to go with my call so I privately showed her.
Trickster tried Breath of Life but Summoner made the save to resist it and reincarnated as catfolk.
Wizard tried baleful polymorph on Scabvistin and bounced to the honour guard but both made their saves.
Rogue managed to kill the honour guard, and after Scabvistin was blinded (courtesy of Holy Aura from one of the angels) the fighter managed to kill him (but not before he had almost been knocked down himself (trickster got a heal on him to keep him up)).

PCs now have control of Fort Phaendar.

Golems went down quicker than expected and Maltagra had summoned a couple of barbed devils to join the fight but both of the devils SLAs were interrupted by attacks of opportunity (invisible PC and one with reach).
Forgot to do the golem swift action attack as well but enough damage was dealt around to require a heal on the fighter and several mass cure serious wounds.
Wizard dimension doored fighter outside to fight Maltagra, but she hit the fighter with her chain and stunned him. Didn't last as another heal got him back in the fight, otherwise he could have gone down.
Off camera had the battle at the gate between summoned devas and guards continue, plus faerie dragon released slaves from pen and they piled on Ettoran.
Wizard saw one of the honour guards dimension step to hit one of the devas with quivering palm before the wizard cast icy prison on the guard and the fighter shot it to pieces after Maltagra had been killed.

Next step is up to the tower's second level (they realise they are on the clock and haven't checked the other rooms on bottom level).
Rogue spotted the disintegrate trap and the summoner sent a summoned angel in to trigger it (made the save so didn't die).

had a couple of sessions.
Party sent the rogue in to scout the fort - she has +45 stealth, so even without being invisible is next to impossible to spot - and carried the gem from the wizard's cat's eye crown.
She thought the intelligence office was empty so the rest of the party teleported in (using clairvoyance via the gem to get the location right).
Rawheads had been hiding in the shadows so a quick battle happened. I asked the fighter's player what he was most afraid of and he blurted out "myself, naked", so that's what he saw 2 of heading his way. Lots of jokes about how the temperature must be cold, but he made both saves so no lasting scars.
Party found the extra intelligence and used the ring gate to get it back to Longshadow, then wizard summoned some dinosaurs to attack the river gate as a distraction.
Guards and giant made fairly light work of the dinos, but it did attract the troop there.
Party tried to sneak across to the Onyx Tower while the battle was going on and all did well on sneak except for the summoner.
Maltagra spotted her and dropped a fireball on her.
Faerie dragon fired a fireball (from wand) back at the "raven" but it was unaffected.
Trickster dimension doored herself and the fighter past the tower portcullis to take out the Ironfang Shadows. Rogue bowshot to death one of the guards by the slave pen (using 4 of the +3 goblinoid bane arrows) while her faerie dragon familiar used a wand of stinking cloud to catch Ettoran and the other guard.
Wizard summoned some movanic devas to attack the river gate guards again and dropped an empowered fireball - which wiped out the troop and knocked out the giant (who had taken some damage from the dinos). Angel finished it off.
Summoner eventually made it to the tower and wizard dimension doored rogue, summoner, and herself into the main chamber just after the trickster had opened the doors.
That activated the golems. Maltagra landed on the other side of the still shut tower porticulis and called out that the tower had been breached.
Sickly green glow appears within the tower walls and battle with the golems is about to start.

Not much to report in the last few sessions.
PCs easily made the DCs to influence the war council members.
Obsik dimension doored away during Gossamer's blow up but was chased with a Discern Location after quickly discovering the programmed illusion.
Euphoric Tranquility was used to question him but didn't get much info, so after finding out he was persona non grata at Kraggodan he was handed over to Gossamer for Accressial Court justice.
Wizard and summoner tried out some big bang long range spells from Kraggodan on the Ironfang troops on the plains below the mountain while the other groups that are attacking the other onyx towers moved in to position.
Expecting the incursion on Fort Phaendar to start next session.

finished book 5
Arlantia got a blade barrier off that extended far enough to also block the chamber entrance.
Arlantia failed to make them worship her with overwhelming presence, and after taking some cone of cold damage from the wizard dropped a greater dispel magic on him. She doubleteamed with Taurgreth to kill the fighter (who regenerated into a gillman thanks to Groger).
Rogue used wand of stinking cloud to make one appear inside of Arlantia's fickle winds barrier, the concealment meant she avoided a couple of blows from the eidolon and reincarnated fighter and could cast heal and dismiss particulate form to get her almost back up to full hp (I bumped her to 299), but the rogue fired from directly above (so bypassing the fickle winds barrier) with a seeking bow and started racking up the sneak attack damage.
Arlantia dismissed the fickle winds allowing the stinking cloud to engulf the party members while she went to find the rogue.
Trickster cast haste and overland flight on fighter so he and eidolon could fly up to attack Arlantia after she had dropped a flamestrike on the eidolon and summoner (and catching Taurgreth as well).
Rogue finally dropped Arlantia with more than 100hp damage (after DR) in one round and the wizard realized he could use his bat familiar to search for Taurgreth, finding him just before the dust of disappearance wore off.
Taurgreth tried a final escape but failed his save when diving through the blade barrier and I rolled really high on the damage - enough to drop him, with the Trickster finishing him off with a lightning bolt.
Party will be starting book 6 at level 17 and I plan to have them L20 for the final assault on the Onyx Citidal.

acid fog didn't slow things down much but the handmaiden managed to escape through a blighted tree (but won't get blighted again for a day). All omoxes dealt with and the party headed straight for Arhlantu.
Of course Arlantia knew they were coming and from her spying on the party was well prepared. Had swapped out a number of the spells (thanks Grumpus for the idea) and bumping her cleric level up to 17 (party are 16th).
A sunburst from the wizard unexpectedly destroyed the mindslaver mold but Arlantia charmed Taurgreth and he has used dust of disappearance to defeat the party's see invisible and true seeing.
Particulate Form removes the threat of critical hits and sneak attack, and fickle winds stopped the rogue's arrow attacks. Arlantia's high spell resistance has also stopped several spells.
I might get to enact Groger's gift ;-)
Fight tbc next session.

Party found Orellie and tried to convince her to become unblighted while she tried to encourage them to embrace the blight. Upshot was a nice afternoon tea (purify food cast of course) and swapping a ring protection +3 for the Dryad's Song ring and information that the way to Arlantia lay within the larger cavern. A negotiated encounter! Wonders will never cease.
Of course, with the now completed Dryad's Song they unblighted the handmaiden and inadvertently opened the way to Arhlantu.
I bumped the number of omoxes to four and while they got caught in a reverse gravity and spammed with holy smite, they quickly teleported out and we are still in the middle of combat while the newly unblighted handmaiden bewails her loss and is seeing refuge in the blighted trees and mushrooms.

well, the hobgoblins tried to parley but to no avail.
Wizard gave the rogue the cat's eye gem from the Cat's Eye Crown and could therefore see the entire length of the deeper reaches and dimension door the party to the western end.
Afet called out to parley after being charged by the eidolon, and the trickster stepped up to negotiate - with a fireball.
Three successful dominate effects were overcome by the fighter using a cap of the free thinker, and emancipation hammer (both items I had subbed in as more appropriate for the bodies of previous palace intruders).
Third attempt took for a round with the fighter almost halving the eidolon's hitpoints but soon ended by the trickster casting protection from evil on the fighter.
The mold was discovered, but the hate for the Ironfang runs very strong in my group (and the little possibility of the canonical end of this AP seems even less likely now).
Their ability to get past the deeper reaches might be made a fair bit more difficult if they continue to kill first and wonder later.

party bumped to level 16 (as part of my plan to have them finish at level 20 instead of 18).
Easily disabled the malevolent earth trap (rogue has +37 Disable Device, and that is when not wearing the ring of maniacal devices).
Mandragloires got poison on the fighter and trickster as the rogue went aloft to see how big the cavern is (she has See in Darkness), but trickster made the save and fighter only took -1 Con (so no real effect).
As the mandragloires spammed unholy blight (blasphemy has no effect due to their low CL), the trickster and wizard bombed the area with fireballs and the summoner blasted it with lightning.
I had bumped up the number of mandragloires to 4 but it was no real contest, and as they tried to dash to other mushrooms the rogue and fighter picked them off.
However now the rest of the Deeper Depths knows that the party is there. The blighted handmaiden, Orellie, and a hobgoblin all saw the display of flashes of fire and lightning. The party all has darkvision now and isn't using a light source, so nothing else was visible, but the rogue saw all the onlookers from her position near the cavern ceiling.

... and perhaps play in the sandbox in that room (was this the sandbox your quote referenced? haha)

LOL - had forgotten there was a literal sandbox there. Sandbox in a linear dungeon in a sandbox!

Any wand / potion / scroll listed as treasure that has been crafted at a higher caster level will have the CL specified. Otherwise as Grumpus said it is always the minimum required.
You are free to change it if you want.

Let’s see….how did I change things…

Nice, and you have certainly skipped ahead a fair way.

I'm keeping tweaks to a minimum to lessen the work I need to do.
Players are more about combat than story anyway (had to remind them that their goal was actually to get the sardonyx shard rather than defeating Arlantia).
Will be interesting to see what they do with the sandbox of the Vault instead of the more linear paths that have been traveled in the last book and a half.

double unholy blight by the baregaras but failed to knock off the 4 angels (movanic devas) that had been summoned against the ropers.
holy smites then in return.
I did get to dispel overland flight on the fighter (landing him on the "broken ground") plus successfully intimidate him, but a critical hit from his hammer in addition to the smites were more than enough to see off the baregaras.
The eidolon went in to check the bandersnatch's room and got ambushed, taking enough damage for the summoner to dismiss her.
Trickster entered the room as well with the rest of the party just outside - so blightguards will be moving up next round due to the noise.
Party will be due a rest after this (they were considering it before checking the bandersnatch den).
Devas have cure serious wounds 7/day so keeping everyone topped up hasn't been that hard for them (though some of the other spells are starting to run out).

... By this point, the blighted unity ability of the fey means the element of surprise is gone. How have other GMs dealt with this? ...

This will start impacting my group now.

without giving away any spoilers.
You should be fine, but as with any character that focuses on one main area there will always be situations that nullify their schtick.
As long as your character has considered how to handle creature types that are immune (constructs, oozes, plants, undead, swarms) as well as things like traps, or these things can be handled by others in the party while you buff them, then (imho) a psychic could be a good addition to the team.

One thing that came out of our game is to consider the preferred gaming style of the rest of the group.
If they like to hit first and ask questions later it can cause conflict with those who like to try diplomacy or non-combat ways of dealing with encounters - and vice versa.

I feel like my campaign is lagging far behind the campaigns of erucsbo and Billy Buckman...

As long as you are all having fun then what does it matter?

full 3+ hour session required to finish the fight from last time. Thorny bodies of the fauns coupled with them using true strike before throwing thorns for their parasitic bond on the eidolon were enough to cause the summoner to dismiss her eidolon before meting out damage to the protected fey.
The hand maiden tactics of casting twilight night followed by beast shape didn't make much sense (they were more dangerous and harder to hit before transforming) but having the jimenju aroma last for 6 rounds despite the tree being reduced to pulp at the end of the 4th round kept things interesting for a time. Wizard had also been hit by a parasitic bond and had to retreat and hope the party didn't crush the offending blightguard too much (but has it had only just recently gotten back from being unconscious it didn't take too much to take it out of the picture without damaging the wizard too much.
They also were able to drop the last 2 handmaidens in the same round stopping one from treestriding away.
Wendel lost 7 wisdom from the headfruits before being restored later.

The parlor is now a mess, the quicklings have been freed, and the pixies continue to harvest mushrooms without any ongoing oversight.

Will be interesting to see if the "Danger! Do Not Release!" prompts them to open the door or leave it alone.

triple encounter fight started as the party engaged the blightguard in the stitching lab and fireballed the jimenju tree before finishing off the fungus farm.
Almost all of the party saved vs the jimenju's intoxicating stench the first round. Haven't finished the fight yet. One of the handmaidens has been knocked out and the fauns have now come out of hiding and are throwing acid bombs.

G4 has a "wand of polymorph" in the treasure section. Am I missing something? Polymorph is a 5th level spell on all spell lists as far as I can determine, and wands can only contain spells up to 4th level.

I'm finding I'm swapping out a lot of the treasure items in this book (as well as spells of some of the encounters).

For G2 I swapped out the ten-ring sword with ring of jumping and the decoy ring with an emancipation hammer, rod of spellsight, and potions of protection v chaos as those seemed more in keeping with what an Ironfang party (who would have done some research on fae) would have with them, and gave each of the rusalkas a four-leaf clover.

I'll keep the boro beads as they make sense for the faun alchemists even though they will be useless for my PCs, but has anyone else swapped around treasure items, and if so were there any interesting (thematically appropriate) items you used?

The rusalka ability to daze those who start adjacent is wicked, but their ability to actually do damage is weak. Charm monster failed but the beckoning call worked. I collated all the underwater rules beforehand and had all the action taking place underwater. Failed swim checks and the slower movement of swim certainly stopped more PCs getting close to the rusalkas (and therefore being dazed) early on. The rusalkas' intention was to essentially hold and drown everyone, with entangle being cast to try and grab people from below, and fog clouds above to restrict what could be seen by those above water.
Once the fighter got tricked (he was trying to swim up to be next to the rusalka) into being levitated by Wendel (who then pulled him above the water) and got him clear to break the enchantment and was then able to provide flanking for the rogue it was over in a couple of rounds.
Magnificent mansion cast for party recovery, but rest of the palace won't be able to tell too much what has happened since the fog clouds concealed the battle from outside the water, and the assumption could be made that the rusalkas won and are still under the water with no sight of intruders.

I've ruled that the close link to the Blasted Heath has resulted in the Pestilent Palace having the impeded magic planar trait (for anything good).
Th jubjub managed to stun most of the party except for the wizard (just out of range) and the rogue (who lost her flanking buddies due to the stunning) but when the wizard managed to summon 3 celestial brachiosaurs they (with the now flanking rogue) smashed the jubjub to smithereens in a single round.

The dinosaurs then proceeded to try and knock down Arlantia's tree but the effect was mostly raining down darkblight on everyone and filling the clearing with mold and spores. The party eventually twigged to using Dryad's Song in the hole and opened the path to the Pestilent Palace.

The heartrot roots took a few rounds and the water elementals were dispatched even quicker, but the beckoning call of one of the rusalkas has snared all but the trickster, rogue, and Wendel, while the other is raising the water in the chamber.

Could be interesting with the highest swim score anyone has is 8 and that is entirely due to strength. The others range down to -1.

anyone have the rusalkas in G2 flood the chamber?
By my reckoning one of them could raise the water level up to 40', but that would essentially spill out and flood G1, G3, G4, G5, G7, and G8 before spilling down the hole in G9.
No saving throw or spell resistance, so without flight or good swim skill (and insofar as this AP is concerned I'd be surprised if anyone invested in Swim), anyone west of G2 is likely to be swept into the pit in G9 (if they don't catch a stalagmite or get caught by a roper).

They won't get much chance to get more equipment except for what they can glean from encounters and what the other refugees might be able to make or have brought with them, at least until the end of the first book (when Novvi appears), so give them plenty of opportunity to grab what they need on the fly once things get going, but for their baseline inventory ...
Have them come up with their equipment lists beforehand and then even if they are sitting in the tavern chilling you can have their equipment make its way back to them via narrative means.
For example - one of the locals grabs the PC's gear as part of a large bundle and hands it to them, or some of the incidentals like rope and rations are grabbed by the PC as they run around town, or they are gifted some items from a villager's whose handcart has gotten stuck as they escape.

Looks like the Ironfang has been a little slow the last couple of months. We've actually been on a hiatus for 5 weeks due to a number of factors. Anticipate starting back this Sunday again.

However I did run into a question about the militia and teams that I am hoping that someone can give me some insight into what they did.
...
Looking forward to some input on my questions above. Thanks in advance.

depends how much you like bookkeeping.

I handwaved the militia subsystem. Really didn't need it.
After my players worked out the survival tasks for the refugees when they first hit Fangwood they showed little interest in ongoing management tasks.
When we got to whether or not to introduce the militia system I gave the players the choice, as they would be required to do the paperwork.
It was essentially delegated to Aubrin and Cireo and later included Cobb.
If something was needed it was handled off camera.
For the attack on Camp Red Jaw I had a group of refugees providing missile coverage and attacking some returning patrols while the PCs did the main encounters. Same for Fort Trevalay, with a support group staying outside the fort and covering the paths in and providing warnings if they saw anything.

Nice work Grumpus. Enjoying your summary of what is in my near future.

After the battle with the blighted patrol the wizard cast mage's magnificent mansion for them to rest in. The wizard and Trickster had used prestidigitation on the red caps to clean them and turn them white, then left them there with the bodies of the slain patrol while they rested.
In the morning they found both the hats and bodies gone.
(of course returning patrol members would have been significantly p*ssed off, gone on a search for the desecrators, and warned Naphexi.

Next morning the party decided to head down-river to the dragon.
They were buffed with prot v acid, resist acid, overland flight, and just before entering the slough the eidolon was barkskinned and the fighter was enlarged, then the entire party hasted.
Naphexi saw them coming and cast blur on herself.
Dragon fear got most of the party shaken, but the Trickster had memorised Remove Fear and fixed everyone except the eidolon.

Despite some taunts and demands from Naphexi it was basically a rush in and fight.
Wendel snuck around the outside and waited.
The eidolon was first in and used her ring of retribution to create a fireball. Didn't get past Naphexi's spell resistance.
She then found out how difficult it was to hit the dragon while the dragon just crushed her (her DR saved her from being popped in the first round).
Naphexi cast cloudkill but almost everyone who made their save only suffered 1 Con damage (reduced to 0). The summoner had summoned a bralani azata who used gust of wind on the cloud, but it at least gave Naphexi some concealment for the next round.
Naphexi almost popped the eidolon, who was then dismissed by the summoner, so the dragon proceeded to go for the fighter.
Even the fighter was having a hard time hitting the dragon and none of the spell casters could beat her spell resistance, when the rogue managed to get a sneak attack in. Double Debilitation. That -2 to Naphexi's AC for everyone else and -6 for the rogue, coupled with reducing the dragon's to hit by 2 (and -6 on the rogue) proved telling, even with blur causing a few of the fighter's blows to miss.
Naphexi had about 60 hp left and would have leapt to the sky the next round when the rogue got in a series of sneak attacks and dropped her unconscious.
That was when Wendel managed to get a shot in (had the players roll his hit and it was a 20, though not confirmed critical) and his sneak attack damage was enough to kill Naphexi outright.
Fighter was a bit miffed at having the kill stolen, but storywise the players agreed that it was a better result.
I'm letting them go to 15th level before they head for the palace (and they haven't been past D2 yet).