erucsbo's page

The rate you are going you will overtake us soon! We are nearing the end of Book 4 (we started Book 1 back 3 years ago and play fortnightly - Book 4 started beginning of this year).

You might need to be more specific in what you are looking for.
A quick search showed this old thread and a couple of subreddits here and here.

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).

The new floating disk replacement - Carryall - seems neat. Not sure if its been discussed elsewhere. Mechanics are a little different (and demand Sustains from the caster) but it can heighten to carry other people and fly up into the air!

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

Did anyone have an updated map for Talmandor's Bounty for the start of Book 6? I did an update for Book 3 but there would be far more changes for Book 6.

Your link for Siege of Stone failed for me and opened only the Imgur home page.

Worked for me.

You know your players best.
Traditionally doppelgangers would keep the people they are impersonating alive so that they can continue to use detect thoughts to reinforce their disguise.
This AP doesn't include that so we assume the three have been killed. 5th level cleric can cast up to 3rd level spells and these can be "duplicated" with potions if need be.
There are lots of options and unlikely the players would require the spell-casting services of a 5th level cleric at this point (and he can always state that his spell-casting duties are fully committed to church work each day). My players certainly didn't follow up on the spell-casting angle.
Do whatever makes it most fun for your group.

I ended up ruling that it was 250 metres instead of 250' below the surface as that allowed much more topographical variance and for more of a dome than a dinner plate covering, though still flattened so that the top of the dome is about 250' below the surface (so the dome rises about 570' instead of 1000').

OK, I'm confused again. Talasantri is 250' below the surface, but is a couple of thousand feet across. It is covered by a hemisphere of coral.
That would mean that the height of the coral in the centre goes up 1000'!
Or - extends 750' ABOVE the surface of the water!
Even a flattened dome (not a hemisphere) would need to be *extremely* flattened to not get close or breach the surface.
Unless the TOP of the dome is 250' below, in which case most of the buildings in Talasantri are far more than 1000' below the surface.
Anyone else work out what is actually going on here?

I don't have the book in front of me, but the is an ambush in an alley by a group of rouges with tentacles. The get about 8 attacks each all with sneak attacks, it a TPK
Look out for the symbol of insanity on the island. Rouge failed main fighter failed TPK

Thanks Haldrick.

following up on my own post - 250 feet = ~76m so not complete darkness and still in the euphotic (sunlight) zone. Very much not in the sweet spot for Mesophotic coral (less than 60m but can go down as far as 150m in tropical and subtropical areas) or Ahermatypic (deep-sea coral) (can be as high as 50m but usually below 150m) - depending on water conditions.
I don't think my players are going to quibble about coral types at 250' and it will be dark enough due to refraction that low-light vision is not going to be good enough. They all have access to darkvision anyway so that shouldn't be a sticking point.

More questions for the hivemind... These are about light levels in Talisantri

Page 5 says that Talisantri's coral dome is only 250 feet below the surface, yet on the next page states that no sunlight penetrates as far down as Talisantri and the PCs will need to have darkvision to see down there.

This doesn't make sense to me, and my players are bound to notice and point this out. Coral needs light to grow, first off. Second, the sunlight zone (the real-life one, anyway, which Aquatic Adventures seems like it's emulating with its "zones") extends down to about 650 feet. It's gotta be lighter than darkness at just 250 feet.

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very late to this but just starting the book myself.

this thread has been quiet for a while... let's see how well it will do with a defibrillator jolt X-D

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looks like it kept flatlining :-(

I'm just starting this book so am also interested in other problems people had and any suggested improvements.
Anyone aware of any play-throughs that might be available? I've found it helpful listening /reading what others have done.

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.
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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'm almost done but am struggling to get my head around D2.
"Embedded in the wall nearest the entrance is a large metal pin panel" yet "Suddenly, the text on the pin panel goes flat, and a humanlike face emerges from it."
The map has the face on the wall *furthest* from the entrance and *hidden* behind the wall backing the workstations.
Is the pin panel / face horizontal as per the map - making it difficult for it to attack with pin spears unless people are swimming over it, or vertical (fold up the northmost 15' of the map of the room)?
The cogborn appear adjacent to squares with cogs in them, but there aren't really any gear filled squares marked and only those on the side walls of the dais look like they might depict gears.
Have had to do some cleaning up of the map anyway to remove the green spray that really shouldn't be there - it's underwater - either the mutagens have dispersed or there are clouds in the water that would affect anyone moving through them without it having to spray more.

How did others handle this mess?

On p. 48 Taurgreth XP is listed as 51200 (CR15), but on p. 58 it is 76800 (CR16). Which is correct? Is because he does not initiate combat he is downgraded to CR15?

It's probably because of all the errors in the book. The editing to find and correct mistakes definitely took a turn for the worse after book 3.

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.

There are definitely spoilers in the book; there's discussion about the troubles Talmandor's Bounty experienced during it's early years and the state of the town itself is a bit of a spoiler to that premise. I don't think anything I've seen hits the heaviest parts of the plot, but I'm also not the best to evaluate since I haven't played RoA. But reading SoB definitely builds on the region and the impacts of RoA are noted as relevant so I'd be careful here.

thanks - hoping that someone else who has played RoA can chime in as well. Some of the troubles from RoA are easy enough to lift from the AP descriptions, so I wouldn't count them too spoilery if that is all that is mentioned in SoB. The SoB players guide definitely has spoilers for the first 2 books of RoA, but after that it seems mostly OK.

Wondering if there are any spoilers for Ruins of Azlant that are contained in Shades of Blood.
I'm currently GMing RoA (2/3 through Book 3) and one of my players is interested in GMing SoB with a different group and wanted to check if it would reveal anything in RoA that a player shouldn't know.

@erucsbo With the exception of the mithral golem, the rest seem to have plenty of room - and the trolls are specifically called out as being in the courtyard, due to it being the only place that can hold them all. I can only find a single minotaur, Grimhorn, and he seems to fit comfortably in the archery area of the citadel - have I missed anything?

The adamantine golem that Mathmuse mentioned. No there aren't too many others.

They need to be 10' for the golems, minotaurs, and trolls among others. It also provides a degree of grandeur for the citadel. If they were 5' squares it would feel cramped.
I used 10' squares and it allowed for more dynamic encounters.

Only thing on my subscriptions is the rerelease of Gatewalkers that I don't want.

Had this happen too and only just realized it as I don't check that email address all that often. How come AP material is coming out on the Adventure subscription?

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.

It's giving me an Invite Invalid message. I'm currently almost at the end of book 2 (as GM) so have accumulated a few resources.

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.

I am just starting this, but I think it's worth creating a map yourself and then editing it as the colony grows

yep - that's what I'm doing. :-)

Re: Ruins of Azlant

The GM should (personally, I'd say it's almost "must") tell the players in advance that much of the AP will be underwater and make the appropriate choices (race, class/archetype, etc.)...

The Player's Guide calls this out explicitly.

There is heaps of time and lots of ways to have land-lubber characters get prepared for underwater combat, but knowing that a ranged combat character is going to be at more of a disadvantage than melee is definitely worth knowing straight up. There is time for retraining, but expectations set early and covered off in Session 0 are a must.
[my group is currently nearing the end of book 2 and we've had the first PC death - goblin barbarian/eagle knight is being replaced with merfolk paladin].

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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.

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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.
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"Having less" is also something that ripples across the whole Wizard design.

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

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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.
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I'm calling b%!~@*!@ on this.

Not neglecting all the other interesting things about the class that have been mentioned I just want to focus on arcane school - the problem (if my summation is correct) is the nerfing of the school slot from a large swathe of spells related by how the spells are made, to a very narrow slice of spells related by their resultant effects. And the reason why this has been done is to remove an artificial construct of magical theory (and distance PF2e from the OGL) and replace it with more exhibited flavour (and allow for new spells that don't fit one of the legacy traditions).
But the upshot is that by showcasing flavour over spell construction, the options for the curriculum (school spell list) have devolved to something niche.
I admit to being surprised when seeing the school curriculum lists being so small. For a student of the arcane to only study a core of so few spells seems negligent on the part of the school. It's more like a vocational certificate course or summer extension program rather than a school curriculum.
I have no problem with exhibited flavour being the driving factor, but the spell curriculum should be vastly expanded, and if a wizard should be favouring spells from their school, then have some other benefit beyond just a limited slot to cast them (eg. increase DC or to hit AC by 1, or add a metamagic effect (provided they also have the feat) as a free action instead of a single action, or create scrolls/wands of those spells at half cost, etc.)

The only sticking point I've encountered so far is that the spell can only be cast on a target that already happens to be flying. XD

Leaving aside that you aren't really "throwing yourself at the ground" (and yes I get and love the reference) it does give another tick to using air walk over fly as air walk doesn't qualify as flying.

Earthbind does give a quicker way of getting to the ground safely than Gentle Landing (Feather Fall) if you have a slow fly speed and are within 120'.

It's also unclear whether Unfettered Movement (Freedom of Movement) would neutralize Earthbind, as it calls out specific conditions. I'd probably rule that it does neutralize it in the spirit of the game and being a higher level spell if I was making the call.

Earthbind uses the "weight of the earth" against a flying creature, so if it was up to me I'd probably have it pull a creature 5' underwater, but then stop as the creature is no longer flying but swimming/sinking instead. Could still be damaging if it was a pool of acid. If it was lava then I'd have them on the surface of the lava as it is technically "earth" (just very very hot and molten earth).

I really appreciate the discussion and that I'm not missing anything in the rules already.
I do like finding inventive ways to use spells and cool interactions. I find they are more likely to create the memories that get recalled and reminisced over years later.
When discussing gaseous atmosphere, what about the interaction with solid fog? What about dropping the target into the middle of heightened (4th) earthworks?

Oh no, it was 100% on theme and foreseeable.

Every character should always have a plan for what they do when their main shtick gets shut down. And occassionally, spellcasting will be impossible.

Not knowing what is being referenced I'll bow to superior knowledge.

For whether an archetype can fix the wizard? No - if one exists then it becomes the only valid option imho further restricting what one can do with the class.
I'm glad Paizo has fixed the math to allow for more balance across classes across low to high levels.
I'm not glad that wizards (which should be the arcane spellcasting master) have to eye enviously what other classes can do with arcane magic without being able to match or do better themselves (except in narrow areas).

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?

So, I'm going to be vague to avoid spoilers, but even as a full caster, you should *always* have a weapon you can use. Just got through a section in an AP that was utterly designed to shut down spellcasting -- the thing that got us through it was that my Wizard had a Returning Spear she could throw.

Sounds like bad AP encounter design. It happens. Yes, a spellcaster should have a weapon or two (ranged and melee) they can use, but IMHO it is last resort (leaving aside archetypes and other myriad options to vary the character). In a 1e AP I was running the wizard PC used his dagger once in 20 levels, and that was only because he was out of relevant spells (none of the cantrips learned that day were suitable for this specific instance - ambush attack - hard to prepare for).

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.)

Would the Dryads Song (even corrupted version) work on the mind slaver mold?

I can't see why it wouldn't that stuff HAS to be blighted.

The mindslaver mold is blighted. It is mentioned on pages 43, 44, and 45.

I haven't done many APs but I would suggest that for a new GM that Ironfang Invasion is pretty good. The Ironfang Invasion channel here contains lots of recaps from a few of us. There is also a podcast (This Golarion Life) I used to listen to that went through II (and had other stuff which I ignored) which was good for GM prep.
You can handwave away the subsystems and keep things fairly simple, or you can allow the players to go admin-heavy if they want. Plenty of opportunities to role-play NPC interactions if you want, or can work for murder-hobo groups too.
There isn't much city-based stuff (until the end of book 3).
Also very easy to scale things up or down if required.

Anyone change the map for Talmandor's Bounty to account for more buildings and infrastructure over the course of the AP?
And are willing to share what you came up with?

got the remaster Player and GM Core hardcovers before Christmas. Yay!

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I have pretty much all of book 3 prepped, except for the last battle, because I don't know what they will negate before hand, and also because it confuses the heck out of me.

The one combat round per turn thing seems really brutal, because they could potentially get bogged down in a combat slog due to some poor rolls and then have a bunch of the events go down without them interfering. Did everyone basically run this exactly as written?
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yeah - pretty much.

late, but for the Shellcracker caves I handwaved it as the bottom of the passage being rock filled rather than just sand. Wasn't 100% believable but reckon I succeeded my bluff check. Fortunately, I got to the quicksand rescue map and managed to edit that before it had to be used.
My group is already used to map mistakes from the last AP.

I had a replacement occur in Ristin as well.

Brother Fen wrote:

Page 18 descirbes Area J3. Prisoner Cages as being "along an abrupt cliff which drops 80 feet below".

The map alone is very confusing, but I used this bit of description to help layout the area by placing the cages up high on a cliff meaning the area leading to it is an incline with the rest of the camp being in the valley below it.

If anyone else is having difficulties, here's a version I did that might make it slightly clearer, though perhaps not entirely accurate - I essentially had the entire map sloping from left to right, with the left part of the map being too steep / inaccessible, and the right side sloping down to ground level:

Ridgeline Camp 52 x 62

However, it's probably supposed to be sloping down on both sides - which I might fix before running it.

Can't access your maps, but yes it is supposed to be sloping down on both sides rather than the left side being higher than the camp.

"The camp is visible from afar" and the sentry towers are keeping an eye out on both sides.
I had the slope on the left side a lot less steep than the right side (which is basically a cliff where the cages are, and a bit to the north). PCs can either follow the ridgeline to come at the camp from north or south, have a gentle climb up the left side, or a very steep climb up the right side.
If the party can get to the base of the cliff on the right hand side unseen and can get up the cliff, then they have a good chance of being able to attack before the sentries see them.

finally got the shipping notice and access to the PDFs.
Now to see if the physical copies arrive before Christmas.

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. :-(