flamethrower49's page

Name: Benita
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Dual-Cursed Metal Oracle 18

Name: Valgard Grissom
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Viking Fighter 18

Adventure: The Witch Queen's Revenge
Location: The Council Fight before the Boss
Catalyst: Gunfire
The Gory Details

I ran the final session of my Reign of Winter campaign last night. As a prelude to the fight with Elvanna, I included a fight against an Antiparty, consisting of a Fext Warpriest, a Russian Gunslinger, a Triaxian Shaman, and a Chelaxian Arcanist. As often seems to be the case, that fight turned out far more dangerous than the boss did.

The warpriest was a real beast, dealing 50+ damage with each hit. He was tempered with Debilitating Portent to some extent, but Valgard still had to sever his Thread of Fate to keep going. They eventually brought him down. Low on health, Valgard charged across the room to finally suppress the riflist, only to be stymied by a crawling dodge. (Monkey Moves, take that!) The gunslinger's response killed both Valgard and Ben in the same round, but Baba Yaga's Breath of Life boon had them covered.

I gave my players control of the hut for the encounter. They definitely had fun with it, but one in particular was enforcing a line of play that was distinctly suboptimal for the hut. He would make sure the hut swallowed all of the giants so they didn't pose a threat to the party, but this was terrible for Ratibor and the hut's security, since the giants would be inside it. So, I would intervene occasionally to have the hut spit them up so the damage the giants could do inside was limited.

Name: Zolia Eriath
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Diviner 17

Name: Dagren Carter
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Divine Hunter 17

Adventure: The Witch Queen's Revenge
Location: The Giant's Crossing
Catalyst: Arrows!
The Gory Details:

The party cavalierly burst into the room that was hosting 4 fire giants, a flock of erinyes, and a handmaiden devil, then teleported back a room in a slight panic. The erinyes and devil teleported in after them. Dagren unleashed a smite volley that outright killed the handmaiden devil, and Zolia threw a Chain lightning, which earned them both the ire of the Erinyes. After a bit of a fight, the resulting volley of arrows slew both characters over the course of one round. Oracle Ben chose Dagren to bestow a Breath of Life. After the fighter and paladin drove the remaining erinyes away, Ben resurrected Zolia on the spot with a scroll she had on hand.

For the fight against the Crone Queens, I did a thing I thought was pretty fun. Instead of making their 1/day special effect a normal spell-like ability, I made them a permanent curse activated on their destruction like a death throes. Everybody had to make a save against Epidemic, Smug Narcissism, Vengeful Outrage (against Baba Yaga, obviously), and Terrible Remorse as the Queens fell. Sadly, my PCs made all the saves, except the oracle who is the victim of Smug Narcissism. (She's blind, though, so figure that one out.) I expect that to lead to some fun roleplaying going into the last section.

I have always wanted to run a Dr. Seuss campaign. You'd start at level one with There's a Wocket in my Pocket. (The Vug would probably be the boss.) You would travel through the world of stories and encounter the likes of Bartholomew or Yertle. The Cat in the Hat would be a deranged summoner. If we were playing in Pathfinder, anyway. Thing one and thing two are Slaads at best.

The arc of the campaign could be to topple Yertle, reform the Grinch, or even uncover corruption in the highest ranks of storytelling and authority. (Ideas reserved for if I get the courage to run it.)

Stopping me? I'd have to speak in rhyme the whole time.

Put like that, 17 does seem... egregious, doesn't it? My players aren't terrible, far from it. They can be a little set in their ways, however, and may not be as adaptable as some circumstances require.

Scroll up a bit through the thread - all deaths back to the 5th are on this page as well, so you can see most of the causes. Four were blunted by Breath of Life. Two deaths were provoked by a fight that I made far too hard, and a practical TPK was caused by both the party and I underestimating the danger to them. A couple of parts of Witchwar Legacy are extremely dangerous. A couple were caused by classic player stupidity, or a lack of teammate support in a critical situation. One was an NPC, and might not even count.

I was a little shocked to see what it added up to. I wouldn't say Reign of Winter is more harsh than any other AP, though I don't have too much AP experience. I suppose I am fond of boosting my monsters and challenging my party, and sometimes they don't rise to the occasion. We still seem to be having fun, though, and that's the important part.

I'm a little behind on my death count. My Reign of Winter segued into Witchwar Legacy, so here they are for completeness's sake. These four deaths are behind a spoiler tag for your convenience.

This brings the death total to 17, assuming you count people who are raised by Breath of Life. (And I do.) It must be noted that the Witchwar Legacy presents a significant, and fairly lethal, detour from Reign of Winter.

Draven: Your post made me look into the situation. The Prestige Class's Winter Witchcraft ability basically says that levels of Winter Witch (PC) stack with normal witch levels, including archetype abilities, for pretty much all purposes. The Winter Witch (archetype) ability Cold Flesh, which grants resistance then immunity, is presumably included in this. Does that answer your question?

I imagine most of the Irrisen Queens Baba Yaga chooses are 20th-level winter witches. Even if that's not the case, they would definitely not last 100 years as the Queen of a frozen nation without planning for something as trivial as cold immunity.

I would level Nazhena a few times, at least to level 9 to keep up with the PCs. I would dispense with the ice golem. She already tried that, it didn't work. Some new ice-themed monster, about CR 7-8 would be fun. Seven-headed Cryohydra, perhaps?

What were you planning for those 3 other party members?

I meant to mention Vsevolod in there. He did manage to kill a PC, so maybe they would remember him if I stuck him in there as a vengeance run for Kostichie's followers.

After re-reading it, I'm down for the Witchwar Legacy. It's a compelling high-level dungeon with fun traps, puzzles, fights, and Baba Yaga lore. It even has a Cornugon devil, which is the type of devil the Ice devils wanted to kill. I'll shave off a few of the filler fights, maybe swap the Cornugon into the final guardian position (to avoid another high-level witch fight going into fighting Elvanna), and give him another template or two.

I can insert the antiparty somewhere into the Cottage or the Kurgan. I would also be on the lookout for a few high level traps or puzzles to add to those areas.

At that level, one frost giant is a big threat. Two is APL +4, practically at least one guaranteed PC kill in a normal fight. The reason for this threat is their damage output.

This encounter with up to 8 of them is easy because the hut represents a much bigger threat to their personal survival. Small fries like the PCs suddenly become a non-issue.

When I ran it, one of the PCs dropped below zero pretty much right away. I think I activated the hut to defend him. From then on, the PCs watched as the hut demolished them.

I'm DMing the last leg of Reign of Winter. My PCs are in section A6 of the Witch Queen's Revenge and just killed the summoned bone devils. The ice devils that summoned them, who work for Elvanna, watched the fight and decided they did not want any part of fighting the PCs. The party's Chelaxian wizard had tried to make a deal with the summoned minions, so the ice devils knew she would be amenable to it. And what ice devil can resist such machinations with a high-level party when they come calling?

The ice devils wanted a trade for services rather than material possessions. The other party members were like, whatever, I just like killing your kind, and the ice devils were like, cool, that could be arranged. They offered the name of a devil and a gate and said they would allow the PCs to pass unhindered if they brought proof of killing him. The PCs said, yeah, why not? This was all spur of the moment, and I had nothing prepared.

Soooo.... I need an adventure.

My first thought is to teleport them into a modified extraplanar Witchwar Legacy. Does anybody know any good 16th-level one-shots? I'm also looking for a place to insert the "antiparty" trope in these last few game sessions.

Any thoughts?

Taking a tip from you, Richard Pitt, a touch of roleplaying added a lot to the encounter with Baba Yaga's Death.

First, the divination wizard got the drop on the Quickwood, and failed to disintegrate it. The tree responded by pummeling the crap out of her. The rest of the party actually decided they were up for diplomacy and they wanted to talk to it instead. They healed the tree and stayed out of it. The wizard escaped the tree's grasping roots with a clever application of Wall of Stone (incorporating the tombstone they had yet to read). With the party out of reach, the tree deigned to parlay, demanding food in exchange for what it knew. The party used flesh to stone on the newly created patio, thus allowing the tree to consume Baba Yaga's tombstone. In return, it offered that Baba Yaga's Death was right in front of it.

The viking and the paladin dug down and unearthed the Witch Doll, which sat up and conversed with them. "I... AM... BABA... YAGA." It spoke slowly and simply, and just wanted to exist freely. The party concluded pretty quickly that what they needed was inside of it. After a long bit of conversation, the viking just attacked it. As they betrayed the Witch Doll, the tree betrayed them, provoking the fight that the wizard had foreseen, because prophecy's a jerk like that.

I've been DMing the game for a couple of years now, and we're coming to the end. You definitely want to use the Player's Guide, as it offers great suggestions.

I'm of the opinion that any party can find a way to best any situation, as long as you have the basics (somebody that can do damage; somebody that can patch you up; somebody that can talk; somebody that can provide support functions [like fly]). Pathfinder offers a phenomenal number of ways to meet these basic requirements.

Nevertheless, this campaign definitely rewards a few specific choices.

First and foremost, a race or class that offers cold resistance is excellent. Dealing cold damage is not great. Dealing large amounts of fire damage will reward you time and time again. Your initial hunch of something like a boreal sorcerer that takes fire spells is spot-on.

Witches get a number of fun options, if you're comfortable with a high degree of backstory association.

My sense is that Druids are almost as useful (bonuses against fey!), without any backstory overhead. Alas, nobody played either of these for me.

Traps are no big deal. If you build somebody explicitly to be a trap monkey, I think you will be disappointed. My players tripped every one and didn't die for it. Curses, on the other hand, are something to be reckoned with, so if you can make somebody good with those, do so.

There's plenty of opportunities for using enchantments, but do have a backup plan. There are some high-profile fights against things immune to it. Will saves are just as important as they always are. You've got a lot of witch foes in this campaign who will test a low will save, but they are smart enough to test your other saves if you're tough to crack mentally.

Name: Zolia Eriath
Race: Human
Class/Level: Diviner 15
Adventure: The Witch Queen's Revenge
Location: Outside the remains of Mametqul's Tent
Catalyst: Drawing the Ire of a Sepid Div

The Gory Details: In the aftermath of the victorious rematch with Queen Bremagyr, the group was ambushed by the group of divs upon returning to the tent (in a somewhat roundabout way). This fight lasted a long time, as neither the divs nor the party could muster a particularly strong attack plan. Zolia kept dispelling Mametqul's deeper darkness, and at the first opportunity, hit him with a prediction of failure, thus earning his ire. He enervated Zolia for 4 levels, but was caught off guard and wrapped up in his tent when Zolia upended the battlefield with tornado force winds from her Staff of Heaven and Earth.

After the party regrouped, Mametqul worked his way out of that debacle and returned for round two. Having cleared the caster blank spellblight (yet another reason to hate Zolia), he disintegrated the weakened wizard into a fine dust. Dagren returned the favor by killing him as he gloated over his personal victory.

She was resurrected later that session.

Without the fudging, the player would not be alive. I would have to write new characters into the game in the last leg of the journey, or string together some sort of B-Team for a retrieve and resurrect mission. Better this way, probably, to keep some semblance of player agency, but I think I get to count it as a TPK on principle.

Name: Ben
Race: Human
Class/Level: Metal Oracle 15

Name: Valgard Grissom
Race: Human
Class/Level: Viking 15

Name: Dagren Carter
Race: Human
Class/Level: Divine Hunter 15

Adventure: The Witch Queen's Revenge
Location: Queen Bremagyr's Throne Room
Catalyst: One Violent Resident

The Gory Details:

The party slew two Omox Demons and walled themselves into the Garderobe (not the most pleasant of staging areas) but came under siege from some baykoks on the inside and the Warsworn outside. They teleported into Nuragla's torture chamber, and disposed of her after she had released only one swarm. The party teleported away to the balcony of the throne room to avoid dealing with the swarm and the ooze.

The (semi)final battle for Vashliq was thus triggered, consisting of the party vs. the Queen, 4 baykoks, and one very weak Omox demon. The party focused on the mooks while the Queen closed, and they (and I) soon realized that Queen Bremagyr was a much bigger threat than anticipated. She stepped onto the balcony where the casters were hanging back, and nearly killed Zolia. Ben Healed her, but died herself the next round. Valgard followed, to a tear-jerking swell in the music. By this point, they hadn't even scratched her. Zolia panic-teleported away, while Dagren made a valiant stand and finally dealt more than 200 damage before succumbing to a brutal rend.

Zolia had escaped, but still had to reckon with the remaining rounds of Blightfire. She could only make that save on a 20. She survived with 2 Constitution (and a touch of DM fiat), and made herself a hole in the mountain to sleep off the fight.

I have now killed my players 12 times this campaign. This is my second career TPK.

Yeah, Darrell, that was a bit of a frustration when going back and forth between the maps. I went with the smaller size - easier to draw on a battlemat. If my players had noticed the discrepancy in the descriptions, it could potentially have been explained through issues in planar magic, which one of the characters is really interested in.

I'm really unsure about the maftet saga as well. Apart from the issues you present, I'm just not sure that the nucklavees and their allies will actually threaten my party.

I like the idea that Baba Yaga's hut contains entire civilizations, complete with wars, that have existed here unwittingly for centuries. I would love to illustrate that for my PCs. Have people made any good modifications to this part of the adventure?

Name: Zolia Eriath (and then some)
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Diviner 14

Name: Valgard Grissom
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Viking 14

Adventure: Rasputin Must Die
Location: Outside Akuvskaya Prison Camp
Catalyst: Pissing off the Yetis

My players used scry-and-die tactics on the yeti hut within the camp. The yetis managed to kill poor Sven, a Russian soldier the players had dragged along with them, but didn't do too much damage otherwise. When the Paladin realized that these things weren't evil and could speak, he used his Greater Angelic Aspect to get them to stand down. The two surviving female Yetis told the party they were trackers for Rasputin, that they were going to leave ASAP, that the mates of the Yetis they killed would be pissed, and that yes, the male of the species was stronger than the female.

A pair of Advanced Agile Yetis ambushed them the next morning, having tracked our heroes to the spot where they employed a magnificent mansion. They both charged Valgard and bounced off his armor, then turned to tear down Zolia and Ben (Metal Oracle) before they even got a turn. Zolia was brought to exactly dead, but only for a moment. Ben Breath of Life'd her and successfully played dead herself.

Dagren (Divine Hunter) and Zolia escaped into the air and spent time buffing and summoning, while Valgard tried to hold off the increasingly violent attacks. Ben got into the air as well. The yetis finally dealt the killing blow to Valgard, but having no flight, beat a hasty retreat back towards the camp. The artillery of Zolia and Dagren finished them off, while Ben was tasked with scooping up Valgard.

Valgard was resurrected by a one-use magic item gifted to him by his grandmother. This is his third death, and he's the only link to the original party. His death represents the 9th party death overall.

Agile is certainly a kick in the pants, isn't it? I won't use that lightly again.

My players hatched a plan this evening to knock down one of the towers. Two create pits on two of the bottom legs, then two disintegrates on supports on the top. The torus on top of the tower retaliated with Chain Lightning for both disintegrates, and the relevant trench was firing on them, but they weathered this assault, and retreated the next round.

Does the tower collapse? If so, what happens to the World Anchor? I want to try to discourage such destruction, but I'm not sure what to tell them.

Here's a pair of fun questions. My party teleported into the "feeding" barracks, and learned about the vampires, so they wanted to ambush them. They evacuated the prisoners to an auxiliary magnificent mansion within the barracks. The chaplains, of course, smelled something wrong when they opened the door. An exciting fight followed, ultimately culminating in the vampires turning into bats and escaping, but not before surreptitiously dominating the fighter to act normally and await further instructions. The party then fled back to their own mansion to lick their wounds, without liberating the prisoners from the other mansion.

Now, two questions. First, I have the feeding barracks staffed with a troop at the moment. What do you think happens if the mansion expires before the PCs get back to it? Is there a way for the vampires to get to the soldiers before then? (Maybe get Rasputin to dispel the mansion?)

Second, how should the vampires use the dominated fighter? The one thing I've done so far is get him to reveal the location of the cattle soldiers, but not the means by which to get to them (which the fighter doesn't know).

I really like the Lantern Goat, but I find him underwhelming stat-wise. I'm thinking about keeping the lantern goat description, but replacing his stats with that of an advanced Devourer. It provides the same soul-consuming service, and the same CR for what looks to be much more of a threat.

I'll say he consumed Victor right before the PCs arrive, and this guy likes to savor his souls, so Victor won't be completely devoured unless the PCs really take their time. I already have his planar ally buddies all picked out; Tokka, an advanced poisonous Genthodaemon, and Rahzar, an advanced arcane Venedaemon (with mythic haste and mythic enervation at his disposal).

Energy drain on Victor is a nice rules effect on top of the thematic stupor he will be in, as well, possibly compelling the PCs to fix that before he can help.

Seem like too much? Want those stats?

Darrell:

I made it so that Iantor in the Atrium was on door duty. He was in charge of opening the door when the soldiers on the other side demanded it. I don't remember off hand exactly what was in the module, but I made the room the barbarians occupied a sort of antechamber/guard outpost, and then the official door into the palace was a massive affair that had to be opened from the inside.

My PCs reached the palace after an already long day, evaded the outside guards, killed the door guards and Iantor, destroyed all of the golems, and rope tricked in the Atrium. Yrax's living situation is curious in that he doesn't live with anybody who likes him. Only Ceseer was left as an at-large guard who could be thought to care about what happens in Yrax's house. As it happens, in my campaign, she observed the carnage, noticed the rope trick, and left them alone to challenge in the morning. Yrax himself was wrapped up in himself, as big bads often are.

Yrax wasn't notified until the next day, when the PCs got thoroughly beat by Ceseer. If they had slept again, I had a plan to bring in some Drakelands Sorcerers with reinforcements via dimension door to see why there wasn't any communication coming from the palace. This did eventually happen anyway, once Yrax was defeated, to hasten the PCs from taking the whole horde like the book suggests. (They still managed to give them the slip and get away with most of it!)

You can deal with the fire sorcerers by throwing them into the white pudding in book four. Sadly, you might come away with a paladin problem. :)

I only had my party face one frost worm, and it nearly killed them. They only survived after first heavy hinting, then heavy reminding, about the death throes. (This session was right after resurrecting somebody, so I was in no mind to do it again.)

The worms might or might not be a tad under-CRd at 12, but two against an APL of 11 is a death trap for sure.

Name: Jexx
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Silver-Dragonblooded Sorcerer 12
Adventure: The Frozen Stars
Location: Ivoryglass
Catalyst: He turned on the garbage disposal.
The Gory Details: Rebelling against Zolia's advice to check out the room opposite the library, Jexx and Valgard opened the northernmost door, and were confronted by a bare chamber with a small plugged well. Mercilessly exploiting carrying capacity rules, Jexx enlarged Valgard to haul out the plug, then needed to know what was down there. He first cast light on a coin and tossed it down. When that winked out, he tried a bead from his necklace of fireballs.

Shocked at being hurt, the ooze living in the hole surged out and grabbed him. Jexx died to a couple rounds of constriction and acid when nobody really came to his aid. Zolia destroyed the beast with an anklyosaurus and chastised Valgard. Valgard quietly replaced the plug.

It turns out Jexx has a Do Not Resurrect card in his wallet, necessitating that I find a way to fit a new (human) PC into the campaign. I think this is our sixth death. Make that 7th, counting Nevra the NPC.

Name: Valgard
Race: Human
Class/Levels: Fighter (Viking) 11
Adventure: The Frozen Stars
Location: Rimekeening Crevasse
Catalyst: Carnivorous Crystallization

Name: Nevra
Race: Dragonkin
Adventure: The Frozen Stars
Location: Rimekeening Crevasse
Catalyst: Carnivorous Crystallization

Valgard and Nevra took the front line against the Carnivorous Crystal, and neither could make a fortitude saving throw. The two arcanists and the dexterity fighter had a hard time making a dent in the spreading crystallization process, and both heroes were crystallized. Zolia, Jexx, and Ben fled, but not before finally killing the Crystal.

After a couple of days and consultation with the mercane, Zolia returned to see if a Break Enchantment could fix the problem. Instead of two statues, Zolia found two more Carnivorous Crystals.

Nevra will be missed, and her memory mourned. Valgard's soul is deciding what to do with itself.

My PCs happened upon Baknarla fighting the Ursikkas. They killed the ursikkas, but Baknarla died as well, making a questionable-if-brave tactical maneuver. The PCs didn't even bother to try a Breath of Life, even though they had plenty handy.

Fortunately, I had already passed them the information about the Rimekeening Crevasse through Baba Yaga's Library. Now they simply get more treasure out of the deal.

Name: Jamion Fairground
Race: Gnome
Classes/levels: Cleric of Nethys 9
Adventure: Maiden, Mother, Crone
Location: The Eon Pit
Catalyst: Vsevolod's Fury

The Gory Details: Despite a mythic boost to Vsevolod (Heirophant 2), the fight went hard against him and his ally right out of the gates when the svathurim got confused and Vsevolod got dazed by a summoned anklyosaurus. (Does the spellchecker seriously think anklyosaurus should be tyrannosaurus?) Vsevolod dispelled the confusion, then was saved from an ignominious dinosaur death by failing his save against Create Pit. He used the impromptu break to heal up.

The svathurim had a good time trampling over everybody and almost killing the viking with full attacks, but the dinosaur was a problem. He successfully lined up a Charge Through the dinosaur and into Jamion. With everybody else arranged on the other side of the dinosaur, Vsevolod dispelled the pit and emerged in full glory to batter down the closest foe - Jamion. A forceful strike sealed the deal, sending Jamion back to Nethys's domain.

The party triumphed not too much later. Suffice to say, I was not anticipating the dinosaur. Boss fight 2.0 against Caigreal and her allies - or maybe Jadrenka, depending on what the party does - will proceed next week.

This happens to align with the player moving away. It was an okay death, as he had an opportunity to heal, but instead used it on the fighter to keep him alive in turn. They might raise the character anyway, if they get a chance. My only regret was not having the time to throw off an augmented disfiguring touch, the perfect weapon of a priest of Kostchtchie.

I won't say merry and pippin were commoners though. I say they had the young template. Both merry and pippin were 32 at the time of lord of the rings, 18 years under the age of a hobbit becoming an adult. I believe samwise was as well, Frodo being the only one of age and only having to come of age that year.

Hobbits came of age at 33. I don't remember their exact ages off hand, but I certainly wouldn't give Merry and Pippin the Young template, especially considering what happens later. (The Giant template, maybe?)

Matthulu wrote:

Some people said Sam Gamgee, but I would say Frodo was more likely a commoner. Sam at least fought pretty well. Frodo only survived because of some sweet armor someone gave him and he had some powerful friends. He also would have gotten some sweet XP for solving the word puzzle to enter Moria. He did pretty much nothing on his own, but survived tons of epic stuff.

Given their family backgrounds, I think Frodo, Merry, and Pippin would all qualify as aristocrats. They are clearly from the closest thing the hobbits had to noble families.

Along these lines, I would put Sam as at least an Expert. He's damn good at the things he enjoys, like cooking and gardening.

Monte Cook's Ptolus had a 21st level commoner. She was an innkeeper or something. It was supposedly a misprint, she being the only epic-level character in the setting. The setting also featured a commoner we rescued who actually had 18 STR. We got him a job. (And then, I think, convinced him to switch to a different class.)

Does anybody else really want to place a Gold Dragon somewhere in Artrosa? The clues the PCs got from inside the hut strongly suggest it. Not to mention this campaign is a bit of a dragonhunt.

on a slightly unrelated nolte, i love the storm hag from book 6 but not sure where to put her

I've been looking for a good way to boost Grishelmuk, the weak link in the coven. Not only is a green hag easy to kill by now, she doesn't have any offensive power against my PCs. (Maybe against the wizard, but she'd never make it over there without a lot of help.) I've considered advanced, mythic agile, or both so far. Making her a storm hag could be fun.

Those are some nasty coven abilities. Not sure if I should stop cackling in glee and choose something easier, or give my players hero points and say f it. Did I mention I love running hags?

Have fun in Italy! Say hi to the Pope for me.

Even though I know what I'm going to see now, I can't stop myself from clicking on this thread. Maybe I should hide it?

What are the ability scores and feats for the Adhukait Asura? They aren't listed on the SRD, except they seem to have Nimble Moves. I can place Dodge, and maybe Two-Weapon Fighting or something like that. Much appreciated.

HELP WANTED

New guardians needed for a large dungeon complex.
Groups or individuals may apply, minimum EL 6 required.
Permanent status effect and ability damage a plus.
Themes of three highly recommended.
Salary is what you earn. Excellent benefits, including tutelage in witchcraft, age, feminine mystique, and the secrets of the universe by the Queen of Witches herself*.
Unlife Insurance through NotLife.
Iobarian citizenship not required.

*Or a reasonable facsimile.
Artrosa is not an equal opportunity employer. Women much preferred.
No maternity leave.

Of course they do! As I put it to my players, it's almost like weakness and decay are a bit of a theme here. The cleric is getting a little fed up with having to prepare restoration all the time. I like to think he's mad at the other characters for not holding on to their ability scores.

If I'm posed an OOC question on the gameplay forum, I'm going to answer it on the same forum, because it's silly to skip between forums to see an answer. I can, however, strive to include a bit of roleplaying along with it.

My party's about four sessions and 3 days into Artrosa now, and still don't have a very clear idea of what they're looking for - they seem to think they're after the book to free Ratibor. They've explored half of the Maiden and half of the Crone, masterfully avoiding all of Jadrenka's rooms and just about anything that could be termed as plot relevant. I need ideas for how better to make the temples interact with them.

I expect they'll be bedding down in the bowels of the Crone after the conclusion of the current nasty fight with the shadows. I've had Jadrenka scry on them. (The wizard goes around with detect scrying, so it has to be noted instead of pleasantly assumed.) I'm getting ready to have the coven scry on them next - maybe both at once, that ought to be amusing.

Sorry for the length, and thank you for reading if you did. Any thoughts about making the dungeon more interactive?

Depends. How many race points would I get?

Name: Jamion Fairground
Race: Half-elf
Classes/levels: Cleric of Nethys 8
Adventure: Maiden, Mother, Crone
Location: Maiden Statue, the Garden (C4)
Catalyst: Poryphanes learned he was Good.

The Gory Details:

The half-fiend satyr's tendriculos ally wasn't really threatening the party, so Poryphanes stepped things up with an Unholy Blight. Jamion, who is Good despite his deity's indifference, failed his save and was sickened. The satyr smiled evilly and advanced on Jamion while cloaked in darkness, for which the party was unprepared. Jamion stood his ground and healed, but Smite Good on a full attack killed him outright from 30 hit points.

The cavalry (a daylight spell from the absent-minded wizard, as well as a whole new party member) came in the next round, and the sorcerer and oracle forced Poryphanes to flee. Jamion was reincarnated as a gnome using a Salve of Second Chance, all according to Nethys's plan. The good thing is that when the party encounters Poryphanes again, he won't recognize Jamion. Neither will all the people to whom Jamion owes money.

Third death in fairly quick succession. I wonder if I'm becoming *that* DM. :)

He could also step out of Artrosa and perform the new-animal-companion ceremony out in the Iobarian wilderness.

Is there any notation for light conditions in chambers in the Crone dungeon? It says the passages all have permanent darkness. I would extrapolate that to say that all the rooms are completely dark unless otherwise noted, but some residents (like the Nymph's Bastards) don't have darkvision.

If no answer, I'll probably just make the room (E4) have that old adventuring standby, glowy fungus. It's an important alchemical ingredient, don't you know.

This is why I'm running the campaign. I'm still awfully fond of it. :)