gamerdork's page

Indeed, they camped (secure shelter) literally right outside the crypt room in which she was rejuvenating, then decided to chill out ANOTHER full day, and so did not discover the used jar until after the 22 hours had passed. Egads.

Appreciate the input. I am sure between them they will have some spells to help her survive more than 1 round.

Game on!

As usual, they had little problems with the battle except for hit points lost. They have also now curb-stomped Khenpathes the bonepowder ghoul and his Witchfire thugs. Next up, it seems to be on to the grand finale, the encounter with Hakotep!

Here's a question to fellow GMs of this AP - did any of your PC groups fail to destroy Neferuset's jar of unlife? If so, did you have her join Hakotep as directed? If yes, what did you do for her equipment the 2nd time? I mean, when she was destroyed to a pile of dust in E13, they took her equipment...

Game on!
- Corey

I ended up retro-ruling that the 2 Movanic Devas both used dispel magic and 1 of them miraculously succeeded on dispelling the deeper darkness. And that if they kicked up AMF again, each would eventually succeed against its own AFM within the same round. But if either crossed its AMF with the other, if the other failed SR it would 'blink out' for 1 round while suppressed then attempt to come back, rolling SR again, etc. The AMF fields were never used again and it remained a pretty epic battle.

REQUEST FOR MORE HELP!
They teleported to the E16 and dispatched the hollow serpent. The curious cleric wandered North and then East - General Tawaret heard her at the west chamber entrance and approached, critting with 1 arrow for like 90 (!) damage. That's where we left off...

Can General Tawaret full attack with her bow while riding the chariot? I would presume YES, since she could have triggered the chariot ability to drive itself for 1 hour.

Game on!
- gamerdork

I think I get it - they were summoned, and it's the summon magic keeping them on the Material Plane, so the AMF would suppress that and cause them to wink out and back home. Wish I would have understood this during the session, as now it's gonna be a big issue when we talk about it next session.

<<<casts resurrect thread>>>

Fellow GMS,

Happy Holidays to those celebrating such! I am here looking for some advice, if anyone still reads these threads and is inclined to throw their 2 cents in... I am running The Mummy's Mask AP, and the party in my game is 16th level. They are mid-battle with a BBEG.

The group, although high level, has not figured out a deeper darkness effect in a room is just that. So the mystic theurge summons a movanic deva, on two consecutive rounds; good play by her. As they advanced into the darkness area, they used their antimagic field Sp abilities. It was a bit messy figuring out what areas had the darkness temporarily shut down, but I finally got there, basically giving up when the player said to spread the two devas out to max their antimagic coverage and removing dynamic light lines and giving tokens back their vision.

But then player changed his mind and wants the Devas close to each other (10' apart) and both adjacent to BBEG. Here is the problem: as I am reading the spell description... not sure how to tag it so link here:
https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Antimagic%20Field
...
the relevant section here starts with:
"Summoned creatures of any type wink out if they enter an antimagic field."

So if Deva2 moves within 10' of Deva1, the field should wink out Deva1 while Deva1 is within Deva2's field... right? And I guess the opposite as well?

Any GM help or advice is appreciated!
Game on!
- Corey

Fellow GMS,

Happy Holidays to those celebrating such! I am here looking for some advice, if anyone still reads these threads and is inclined to throw their 2 cents in...

Party in my game is 16th level:
- Hunter with a ridiculously borken cat companion
- Cleric of Sarenrae
- Fighter / Bard (player new to PF when we started but very sharp)
- Mystic Theurge / Wizard / Cleric

They are mid-battle with Neferuset. They'd just killed 1 of the Neshmaal when the theurge prismatic sprayed; the other two were sent to another plane and petrified, leaving Neferuset (who'd made her Will save v insanity) alone in her darkness. The group, although high level, has not figured out the deeper darkness effect is just that. (I gave Neferuset a wand of eyes of the void so she can see within it.) So the theurge summons a movanic deva, on two consecutive rounds; good play by her. As they advanced into the darkness area, they used their antimagic field Sp abilities. It was a bit messy figuring out what areas had the darkness temporarily shut down, but I finally got there, basically giving up when the player said to spread the two devas out to max their antimagic coverage and removing dynamic light lines and giving tokens back their vision.

Here is the problem: as I am reading the spell description... not sure how to tag it so link here:
https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Antimagic%20Field
...
the relevant section here starts with:
"Summoned creatures of any type wink out if they enter an antimagic field."

So if Deva2 moves within 10' of Deva1, the field should wink out Deva1 while Deva1 is within Deva2's field... right? And I guess the opposite as well?

Well, I guess the bigger problem is that Neferuset is pretty much screwed at this point, since ALL of her abilities and items are no longer magically active. Best I can do is try each turn to get out of the field and cast her most devastating spell. (Already used the Oracle ability that is like mass phantasmal killer; 3 of 5 failed Will but made Fort saves.)

Any GM help or advice is appreciated!
Game on!
- Corey

I am running this AP, and will be using portions of / customizing for a harder Hakotep. I was thinkingng it might be fun to customize his ]i\prismatic spray[/1] a little, to be more 'ancient Osiriani' oriented. Maybe drop the acid damage option for a sort of sand blast... or replace the plane shift option with something.

Any fun/crazy ideas out there from the fellow GMs?

Game on!
- Corey

Howdy fellow MM GMs,

I really like the 'Adventure Backgrounds', (page 7 in this one), but wonder if the PCs might ever know portions of that info. If they did, it might give more flavor to the encounters, something which I have found lacking at times during the first three installments.

Have any other GMs used portions of these backgrounds to help fill in storyline info for the PCs? If yes, did you doing so require specific action/study on their part, or did you simply allow appropriate Knowledge checks, or was some other impetus/mechanic at play?

Thanks in advance for any shared thoughts.

Game on!
- Corey

@draxar - Mine are almost there too, and Slayer seems like a good idea! Although with little extra time to prep I will probably run it as "They just get ranged death attacks' method.

Question for all GMs of this AP: my group just finished Dark Depository research, although on the morning of the 4th day, thereby exceeding their 3-day permission slip. My first thought is to have Tephu militia waiting to arrest them when they climb out, a ploy by Deka to slow them down.

Maybe a day in the slammer, and Muminofrah demands their release so they can amuse her; or maybe they have to pay some pricey bail fee. I see some good stuff in the book, too, but I don't want the marks of justice to entice them to head to Sothis - one PC already wants to - and them feel like I have to railroad them to say in Tephu.

Any thoughts on this?

Game on!

Fellow GMs of this ap, hello!

I am thinking of designing an encounter for Part 2 of this book, possibly to replace something in a another hex location. Wondering if the community has any ideas to flesh these out.

1, basic idea is a ruined caravan which at one time was a dune giant’s slaver caravan, so the critters would be a sunbaked zombie dune giant, plus a couple sunbaked zombie ogres (former slaves, because medium humanoids like gnolls would be worthless to add). But that would be just a bunch of beef and a quick melee fracas. I thought perhaps the vehicles could be half buried so maybe an opportunity for a collapsing or sand trap during the search after.

Any ideas to make it flavorful or a “cooler” encounter? Or maybe a quick fracas with treasure is fine.

2. My other idea is a draconian themed mausoleum or tomb, mostly buried in the dunes, but contains (at the end?) a mummified desert dragon (already statted at CR8). Looking for help with the ‘why is that there?’ idea.

Thanks for any thoughts;
Game on!

gamerdork wrote:

and (in- and out-of-game) does good research. He has several note already for me, even before they get to Tephu.

I'm not sure what this means exactly, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even run an AP for someone who was googling it on the side. Is your player really researching the AP out-of-game?

No, sorry - I just meant that he is a prepared player out of game, not specific to the AP. He is 1st-time Pathfinder and so reads a lot about the rules, his class choices, etc.

We are about to start Book 3 (I am GM), and at least one of the players takes good notes and (in- and out-of-game) does good research. He has several note already for me, even before they get to Tephu.

For those who have run this (or even played), what say you to the DC for History check regarding "what is the Slave Trenches of Hakotep"? I mean, they are noted on most maps found on The Google, upon which we accidentally stumbled so they have seen the reference there; AND they are referenced somewhere in Books 1-2 because he has notes; AND book 5 literally has the title. All frustrating for keeping stuff secret.

Anyway, do you feel that is a high-DC (40?) check perhaps, something that is lost to the sands of time for all but the most knowledgeable scholars? Maybe even higher for non-Osirion persons? Would anyone in Wati know anything of the Slave Trenches?

They can probably learn something in the Library of Tephu (I've not read that far ahead yet.) Or, I guess I could say "your research yields nothing" until it actually does (per the AP).

thanks in advance for any advice.
Game on!
- Corey

Someone posted early in this thread re: the Panic Level:

End of adventure automatically decreases 1d4 daily

Is "end of adventure" defined as end of Part 1? OR end of Book 2? My players ended Part 1 at PL 15, then rested 1 day before heading into the Dead City, so I added +1d4 (result 1) for resting a day. I see nothing obvious in Part 2 encounters about reducing the PL, so perhaps I should reverse that and instead reduce by 1d4?

Thanks in advance.

Game on!

Played this AP through Book 5 Part 1, now running it and having a blast (as are my players, one of whom is 1st-time PF). Anyhoo, to anyone else who ran or is running this, in The Sanctum of the Erudite Eye, area D11 (last room on ground level and the stairs heading down to the crypt), the text states:

Characters who search for tracks in this room can find a single set of bloody boot prints going south with a successful DC 15 Survival check. A result of 19 or more also turns up the tracks of multiple people heading north through this area. The DCs of these Survival checks are reduced by 5 on the staircase behind the north door that descends to the lower level, because of the thickness of the dust on the steps.

Do you take this to mean the PCs must be searching, or does just being there allow Survival checks?

Game on!
- Corey

Will now also add:
4. Displacement Con Boon #10 - Missing Mentor

Please PM me here, or even better on Discord (gamerdork #4602).

I am running this AP; here is my players' group:

Legacy of the Dead
Nura, female half-elven cleric/wizard of Hathor
Terleg, male human fighter (and merchant) from Taldor
Alkatraz, female tengu cleric (and amateur tomb rober) of Saranrae
Daeng, male kitsune hunter with a tiger companion

Game on!
- Corey

Hello, I am looking for Catfolk, and for it I will trade ALL of the following boons:

1. 2017 GM Boon #1 - Rodent Heritage (allows ratfolk)
2. 2017 GM Boon #4 - Born to the Sea (allows aquatic elf/gillman/merfolk)
3. SacOPF TakeTwo Con Boon #8 - Professional Reputation

Please PM me here, or even better on Discord (gamerdork #4602).

I may as well try...

Looking for Catfolk

Will trade ALL of these:
Ratfolk, Professional Reputation, Metamagical Access,
and a Starfinder boon (don't have name handy but it's from those first available at initial Gen Con release 2018 I think)

Game on!
- Corey

Have:

Ganzi
Aasimar
Tiefling
Leshy

Want:
Vanarran
Gripli
Dhamphir
Rat folk

Beat It Flat, I have sent you a PM about a trade.

Hi folks!

Have:
Ratfolk

Want:
Catfolk

Game on!

I loves me some magic!

I kinda wish (<--- see what I did there?) that saves were listed worst-to-best or the opposite:

Critical Success
Success
Failure
Critical Failure

Game on!

TITLE SAYS SPOILER, DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE PLAYING THIS MODULE

Hello, fellow gamers. Well, the players/PCs have done it again, going quite off the rails. To anyone who has GMd this module, I could use some advice on how to handle this...

The situation: the group has cleared Tula's crypt, and is now interested in exploring The Monastery of Saint Kyerixus. However, they could not just use the front gate, like any logical visitor would. Oh no - they sent in their rogue, buffed to the nines with the likes of invisibility, alchemical silence and expeditious retreat, etc. (Nothing illegal, so don't get caught up in that aspect.) With the +20 for invisibility and his stealth bonus, he is nearly undetectable, and in this case no Perception rolls noticed him.

First night: he scouted basically the western half of the complex. This lead to him noticing Azmur Kell in the grove area (F4). He made the Perception roll to connect Azmur's red hat as the same hat worn by Clausyre at the auction. (As a side, he also opened - just a bit - the door to the abattoir; then promptly closed it after seeing the corpses and being overwhelmed by the smell.)

Making it back to the party safely, he reported his findings. And this is where they derail and/or disembark the train, so to speak. The group now assumes that Azmur is either the lead bad guy, or in major cahoots with the major bad guy.

Second night: they devised a plan to get the entire party to the grove, and have managed to knock unconscious and abduct Azmur Kell. At least they intend to question him, and not outright slay him!

I don't necessarily want to railroad the PCs, but kind of need to a little. I'll have to play it by ear, based on where the questioning leads. I have to read the section of the module again, but intend to at least use the angle of, "Oh Gods get me back before Aeteperax finds me gone and slays my wife! Your blood will be on her hands! Etc.!"

Does anyone out there have any other suggestions that might make it fun getting them "back on track"?

Thank you kindly for your time, and happy gaming!

My plan is to use 2/3 of max after 1st level:

d6 = 4 per level
d8 = 16/3 (levels)= 6 then 6 then 5
d10 = 20/3 (levels) = 7 then 7 then 6
d12 = 8 per level

as this gives the higher HD equal footing (percentage of max) with the d6.

Game on!

If you are not playing CORE mode, also check out the scabbard of vigor. I often invest in these after I have a +1 weapon with a property, something permanent that I like (keen in your case, vicious for some PCs perhaps).

The scabbard of vigor is a great buy for 1800 gp. Get a few and fill them with silvered (cost +90 gp) or cold iron (cost x2 gp) scimitars. When needed, draw your and declare the weapon to be +3 for 3 rounds. When it runs out, draw your next (cold iron or silver) weapon from your next scabbard of vigor. Rinse and repeat as needed. A much cheaper investment for the few rounds you need it. Combats don't seem to often go beyond 5-10 rounds anyway. It's not a perfect solution, but is workable.

Game on!

Another tally for the greater shadows!

Name: B
Race: Half-orc
Class/level: Barbarian 12
Adventure: Beyond the Doomsday Door
Location: Dungeon level 4
Catalyst: Greater shadows

B is a brute of a woman, healthy as an ox but not as strong as some barbarians from her lands. Two greater shadows weakened her from 17 to 9 before she could act. This made B very angry, but after we dispatched 3 of the 4 the remaining greater shadow critical hit and hit for... you guessed it... 17 total strength!

Our group had to look up the rules to figure out that breath of life would bring her to life, but we also had to ready an action to use our wand of restoration, otherwise the 0 strength would just immediately kill her again.

Good times! We can hardly wait for the fight with Andabapalous (yes I know it's spelled wrong), because that little be-atch bogey man got away and will also be waiting for us.

Jesse, sorry to bother you here, but I am trying to send an email through the AetherCon site's 'Contact Us' feature and it keeps telling me there is an error even though I have all of the fields filled in.

Would you perhaps PM me here with suggestion(s)?

thank you for your time.
- Corey

Thank you for advising which source they are from!

However, in order to buy the item(s) -- even though they are on the chronicle -- I need to own the book? Yuck. Not a book I'd ever buy (no interest), so I guess I'm out of luck there.

I actually considered the GM thread, but I'm not really a GM (only a few modules at home) so I wasn't sure I'm allowed :)

Hmmm... it lists the item names and the cost of each, and says they function "as normal, except..."

But I do not see the descriptions (functions) anywhere on the sheet.

I am having some trouble reading the 2-character superscripts next to the names; if I could read those I suspect I could figure out the source.

Hello fellow Pathfinders,

For the boon

I am having trouble locating descriptions of the three items listed therein. Can someone help by pointing me in the right direction, please?

Thank you in advance, and happy gaming!

Olmac wrote:

Nefreet wrote:

You can report AP and sanctioned Module credit with as little as the GM and zero players.

So you're saying if I run an AP with players without PFS numbers, I can report it with just me as the GM, no players, and apply credit to one of my characters?

Yes.

sorry to sidetrack (if I am): Does this also apply to modules? I am currently running The Dragon's Demand for a group. Only two of them have PFS ID numbers, and neither of those cares for credit. But I would surely like to report for table and GM credit.

Game on!

Neat ideas, everyone!

Back in my days of Rolemaster, I had added a skill named "Mythology" which essentially was identifying creature traits.

Game on!

I am proud to join this list!

Name: Daenir Luranthallus
Race: Elven male
Class: Seeker (sorcerer) 11
Adventure: Beyond the Doomsday Door
Location: 3rd (4th?) level under Windsong Abbey
Catalyst: Gongorinan Qlippoth

The Result: The qlippoth hit with all its full attacks, including two critical scimitar strikes... wasted Daenir from full 54 hp + 19 temp hp, all the way down to -18. Luckily our group has a very competent oracle who had breath of life and some type f quickened cure spell prepared, and got me close to full. On the bad side of coming back to life, our party wizard decided to end the battle by casting cold ice strike, and I rolled a 1 on the save which destroyed my cloak of resistance +2!

Game on!

From a player perspective, hope that's okay... Having the "which scenarios muster under which banner" easels in the hallway is great. But each time I figured out under which banner to muster, I had to wander almost halfway into the ballroom in order to see the names on the banners. I suggested to an orange shirt that the banners ALSO have the iconic name on the bottom of the back side. That would be visible, in most cases, immediately when walking through the doors. Voila!- no more bumping into and/or interrupting tables while trying to find my banner!

Game on!

Disintegrate.

Assuming the target is dust, next round gust of wind.

For those of you used to the Marsh Supermarket a few blocks north of the hotel/convention center: it is now out of business. It was bought by another company, but they are going to remodel it and that's expected to take months. I highly doubt it will be re-opened in time for Gen Con.

Mark, was that the store on NY or NJ St/Rd/Ave, a few blocks east of Illinois? Thanks!

[EDIT] - That will teach me to initially read only PART of a thread! Mark answered the question in the post directly above mine, but somehow I failed to see it.

Game on!

I'm not one to suggest specific builds -- half the fun of RPGs for me is building a PC (specs AND story!) -- but will suggest checking out the Paladin and especially some of the archetypes (Ghost Hunter, Oath against Undeath, Undead Scourge):

Paladin

For archetypes scroll near bottom of page. You can even combine archetypes, as long as they don't replace/change the same class feature.

Happy gaming!

Think of it this way:

Wealth by level for a 5th level PC is suggested at 10,500 gp. The sword cost is ~8,350 gp. So no worries there.

The +d6 fire damage is an average of +3.5 damage, per hit. Pretty good bonus, BUT he's not always going to hit. And fire is the most-resisted energy in Pathfinder (long haul) so the fire damage will eventually barely matter, especially as they level even higher.

Don't sweat it. If you think your other players might be jealous, try to find similar item(s) in the near future for them.

Game on!

I will likely be in town early enough on Wed to play at least a mid-day game. If Scotty's goes and I get into something there, I'll have to arrive Tuesday night! If I cannot get into Scotty's, I'd be interested in an evening game somewhere else.

Game on!

Is it the 3rd level addition to finesse training that brings the 1.5*Dex to damage online?

Alternately, the agile weapon property; although it admittedly would be a longer wait than 3rd level.

Disintegrate, then for spite against hated enemies, gust of wind.

Not exactly what you asked for, but have you considered any fantasy board games? There are several out there (some good) that are very dungeon-crawly: Descent is a big old dungeon crawl format (one player is the Overlord who is actually trying to destroy the players); Warhammer Quest I recall being combat after combat; there are likely many others similar.

Sorry again not exactly what you asked for, but there are a lot that are light or nil on the role-playing.

Or as suggested above, Emerald Spire. Alternately, many years ago AEG (I think) published The World's Largest Dungeon, like 1000 pages of Dungeon crawling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Largest_Dungeon

Game on!

Yeah you'd think Harsk would pay some prestige to retrain...

Kyra and Seelah have 'been around the block' many times, in my experience.

I agree with BretI. SFB was a great game, true, but VERY bogged down with specific rules.

Silent Death (long out of print) is a fast-paced and very easy space fighter combat game. A group from Canada called Ottawa Red Shirts ran/runs an even easier space fighter combat game at Gen Con for many years. An there are many more such games out there.

On a side note, at the very least I am hopeful that Paizo words these rules well, and avoids ambiguity and confusion due to lack of proper grammar and context.

Game on!

Sending you a PM.

Game on!

If archetypes are allowed, the seeker (sorcerer) is pretty decent, but may double up Disable Device with the rogue. Perhaps take pragmatic activator to use Int for UMD checks. Have fun!

I ran RHoD many years ago, and used some Dungeon Crawl Classics stuff to get them started a few levels.

As for Pathfinder stuff, it's too bad Fangwood Keep (also involving Hobgoblins) is level 4-6 - perhaps it could be scaled down to lower levels? I am not familiar (on a GM level) with most PFS scenarios, but maybe Rise of the Goblin Guild might work for a portion of what you need.

Or perhaps Master of the Fallen Fortresss and then a couple levels of Emerald Spire might do?

Good luck, have fun - RHoD is a great campaign!

OP specified a PFS (Society) build: Rich Parents is not a legal trait for PFS.

For my PFS twf dwarf ranger, I found having quick draw early, and a ton of weapons from which to choose (hail Gorum!!) was a benefit.

Sounds like you are on the right track with 2 light weapons, and 2nd post has some good feat suggestions.

I play a phalanx fighter in Society play, and not even once has my ready pike ability been used in 8 levels <sad face>. Hopefully in a home game or AP, you will fare better with enemies charging, even once per day.

More to the point, I took 1 cleric level (separatist archetype), with the travel and growth domains. Wearing mithral full plate and with longstrider active, he moves 40'! But I don't deal a ton of damage, using my shield for defense and wielding a bardiche.

I hope you find the balance you seek; happy gaming!