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Good to know. Thanks!

So eons ago, I had started an AoW game. RL cut in and we had to stop after the 3 faces of Evil.

Fast forward to now. I've been running a 5e game and the players are 7th level and I'd really like to revisit the AP and possible finish it.

I have 2 concerns/questions.

If I were to start the game back up in the Age of Worms AP(we're on hiatus at the moment - playing Curse of Strahd) which adventure would be the best one for 7th level adventurers and still make sense.

A little backstory, I've already hinted at the Worm that Walks/Tharizdun in my homegame. Our resident Warlock took Ghaunadaur as his Patron(Great Old One) and I've had an aspect of the Worm that Walks tempt him with power.

Plus, a nice long world wide threat... ah... makes my evil heart sing.

That's fantastic, Bob Bob Bob. Nicely done.

There are some weapon properties from the Giant Hunter's Handbook that cause a weapon to resize to its wielder.

If you look closer at Xanesha, though, she has the undersized weapons Special Quality, so the spear is already Medium.

Thanks, yeah I had just reread that. So dork that I am, I will heartily eat my post....

So in my Rise of the Runelords game we just defeated Xanesha and have her spear.

Our party Magus wants to use it. I said fine, but it's at a -2 due to the size of the item, it's a large sized weapon.

The player has asked if a weapon smith could alter it so the haft is shorter and would be usable. My gut answer is, "yes they could, but the spear would then lose any magic properties it has in it" or some such.

So before I send the email, can anyone confirm for me that a magical weapon could or could not be resized to be used by a player character without damaging the item's abilities.

I know magical clothing and jewelry will resize to the user, but not weapons. Is there a rule I am missing? Could a weapon smith alter it and not damage it?

Advice and opinions welcomed.

Go read the old Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories, they're pretty much 'Fighter & Rogue go do things' the pulp series, I'd suggest giving the fighter more skill ranks, going fast and loose on handing out consumables and quite possibly allowing them both to gestalt for free into a second class (Non-casting or low casting), or just giving free gestalt levels when they earn them.

This.

I read the OP's headline and immediately thought of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
You CAN run a two player game.
Give them connections with a local alchemist, temple or healer who owes them.
That way they have access to potions, and heals.

Have them purchase hirelings.
You can build encounters that are challenging but not deadly pretty easy.

I would run them on a 20 point buy(high fantasy), start them off max HP for first level and run with it.

There's no reason to make them munchkins right out of the box. You don't have to. A two player game with limited healing and access to spells opens up a huge world of NPC interactions that could be a blast.

They're not missing anything by not having a Wizard, Cleric or Bard in the Party. So what they don't have spellcasters at their disposal. Hire one. You run him/her and make them fun.
That one NPC could be the door for a whole campaign. And you can use them to direct the party how you want to see the game go.

You could have this spellcaster, let's say a wizard, hire the pc's to recover a book for him. That book turns out to have maps/rumors/stories about a magic item. Once found, and given to the wizard, he rewards the party and shares his knowledge with them and offers them a secondary job and is willing to fund the expedition to X.
If they accept it, he insists his apprentice join them. And chaos ensues....

Don't feel like your limited. As the DM you can adjust the world to help or hinder your players. You got this, just roll with it.

Thank ya, fella's.

That's what I thought.
Love the easy ones. :D

So I have a player who is wanting to buy some scrolls during our current downtime in the Rise of the Runelords campaign.

He sent me his list of spells he wants to purchase.
One of them was Darkvision, Communal.

To which I asked him, what is that?
I just purchased Ultimate Combat recently, but hadn't delved into it enough to even know about the communal spells.

But my question is, does this alter the costs of the a 3rd level scroll just because it has the communal aspect?

My gut reaction is no, it's still a third level spell and the costs would remain the same.

Is that correct?
A scroll of Darkvision, Communal (base CL) would be 375 GP?

Thanks!

I'd love a deck of these, heck even a pdf for handouts work rock.

Thanks, Baval.

We are in the midst, this morning, discussing it. He's all mad at himself for taking the Harrowed cards, but says he'd do it again.

See it's not JUST the negative immunity or positive vulnerability that is getting him. He also had his Handy Haversack suddenly only work underground, which it contained 80% of his scrolls and his spellbook. So it hampered him more than anything else.

And we've not had much of a break, I threw some sidequests at them just to peek their interest and instead they(the party) swallowed it whole.

So... yeah.
Thanks again1

So I have a player who drew from a Harrowed Deck of Many Things and received a card that allowed him to be immune to a type of energy. He asked for Negative(since we had recently encountered a nest of Wights).

I allowed it, and for his vulnerability I chose for him to be vulnerable to positive energy. Which comprises most of the healing spells.

His 6th level Conjurer just bit the dust in tonight's game. We were talking about it afterward and I said I thought that raise dead would work. But he doesn't think so, and I'm the DM.

Most of the spells that are positive in nature contain some form of wording in them with positive as a descriptor.

Raise Dead does not.
So I'm ruling that yes, a Raise Dead spell would work on his character, and his curse would still linger on.

Thoughts?
Am I wrong? If I am, I couldn't find a descriptor for positive energy within the Raise Dead write-up.

Thanks!

Fantastic, thanks.
Started building a Blight Druid last night...quite different.

So in our last session, I tossed in some just weird encounters. Those encounters were seeds I wanted to plant and explore later. Only players to always operate that way...alas.

So our Druid has been kinda of lost and listless. She lost her first animal companion a few sessions ago to the Skinsaw man. She only had one, and had no plans to take on any others. I wanted to give her a story where she could shine.

I had I'd include a scenario where rats in the city of Magnimar begin to appear more abundantly than normal, this catches our druid's attention. Then she notices that they are stopping and it looks like they are "talking" to each other and looking... right at her.

In fact they are.

All I planned to do was setup a scene where she might/might not try to figure out what was going on. Instead, I hit my insanity button and drove this up to 11.

They not only did that they began to swarm her in public, but not overwhelm her. Only 1 approached and attempted to climb on her.
The others only moved like a mass of rats all around her.

After some time the party gets a speak with animals scroll and asks the rats what's going on to which I had them reply, "He has returned!" "Help" "You're like him" "Run!" "He comes"

That was all I had planned. I had thought that I'd run a side trek where a Cat Lord had pursued a Rat Lord to Magnimar, with the intent to kill him/her. And I wanted to throw the party in-between.

But now... I'm not sold on my own idea.
I'm thinking that an Urban Druid has taken over a section of the sewer system and is doing ... something. I just don't have a brain cell active to decide what that it is.
Running a thieves guild incorporating wererats, rat kings, and rats themselves?
Is doing horrible fungi growth bent on destroying the city? Or is under the control of Fungus Queen and is summoning others to be controlled by her...
Is under the influence of a intellect devourer?

Lots of half-thoughts, nothing concrete.
I'm not even sold on my own ideas and welcome suggestions and ideas from others.

Help me Advice board!
I need your help!!!

**
There are 6 players, 6th level (Druid, Barbarian, Rogue, Wizard(Conjurer), Inquisitor of Abadar, and a Cleric of Desna) total.
We are very close to the end of Chapter two in the Skinsaw Murders, RotRL AP.

Fantastic! Thanks for help. I thought that was all, but given the number of possible additions hidden away in other sourcebooks, I wanted to be sure.
Thanks again!

Or is it just considered this: cold, electricity, fire, or sonic?

I ask because a player wanted to draw from the Harrow Deck of Many Things, and I worked it in for him.
One of his draws was that he was immune to one type of energy(his choice) and vulnerable to another (GM choice).
He said Negative Energy was his choice, and at the time, I said "sure, why not."
After a day or so, I got to thinking, should I have allowed that? Should I keep in to the basic four above?
I half-joked that my selection would be positive energy for his vulnerability.

Is there a list of all the energy types? I can't seem to find one. My Google-fu is weak this today.

I'm running this as a side-quest along side Chapter 2 of the Rise of the Runelords.

Initially, my group assumed it was tied to the Skinsaw murders, and were taken back when it wasn't. I included more rp and researching. Detailing that Kasadei was working a case for Judge Ironbriar and that the PC's should get in contact with her.
An attempt to throw them off the trail.

I prefer villains try to live and fight smart as opposed to head on fight til I die or you do mentality. Plus, another reoccurring baddie.... bring it.

So in my RotRL game the group encountered some ghasts.

They got stuck in a 1x1 ramp and the druid had her wolf charge the ghasts. Who in tern paralyzed it, and then proceeded to coup de gras it.

It had missed both of its saves. First against the ghoul fever and then the paralysis.

My question is, and maybe it's more story than rules, but will it come back to life( I know the rules state after the next midnight - or somesuch it will). The party hasn't done anything yet, and the druid is taking this IRL and In Character pretty hard.
I had already, in game, hinted that her companion was not all he seemed. I was going to do a side arc about how her animal companion was a cursed nobleman.

Regardless, is it too much of a dick move to have her "haunted" or hunted by her now undead animal companion?

And at a glance I couldn't find where she could summon(and how long it would take) a new companion. Or if there were rules delegating this. I know a druid can dismiss a companion and summon a new one, would I treat this the same way?

So I have a player who is playing an inquisitor. And up til now, I've been running a Forgotten Realms game with the Pathfinder rules.

But we've decided on off nights to play PFS modules instead of the Rise of the Runelords AP.
In doing so we've decided to go full Golarion.

So in helping my players switch over, looking over the pantheon, I don't really see a diety that fits more of a "Helm" outlook/portfolio/domain style.

Abadar is close.. but not exactly.

Help me conversion(or another thread if this gets moved) you're my only hope.

Since they are "spirit" like, would a caster be able to see them (after they manifest - or heck before) with See Invisibility?

I had a player try to argue that he'd be able to see them, and another tried to use Detect Magic to see "their aura's".

I really need to work on how I word my descriptions in game.

d'oh

Sorry. You're right.
I didn't clarify. I spit forth a ton of stuff and asked nothing.

So yeah, what claudeknnilol said.
Should I run them per the book (RAW)?

Or is what I'm doing fine?

I've been keeping it loosey goosey for flavor's and fun's sake. And so far it's been ok.

Hey all!

So I'm running Rise of the Runelords and my group are currently on the first floor of the Haunted House.

Warning... some spoilers may lurk below.

I've been running it more as an investigative creep-fest than anything else.

And In prepping for this weeks game, I had forgotten that haunts manifest on a surprise round and their initiative is on 10.

I don't get this. I mean, my brain went tilt as I tried to understand why does it need this.
I've been running it as it activates/manifests as the party enters the room/area. From there, dependant upon the type, I'll either target the player who's assigned to it or have people make perception checks to notice it's manifistations.

It's creeped them out, and a couple of my players have totally embraced the effects and played them up. Case and point, the haunt that makes a player see another player as their dead daughter and attempts to leave. He's playing a female healer, and he played her set to 11.

But I'm thinking maybe I'm doing them wrong.

I mean, the manticore went ok, because it was attuned to a specific player. Who, entered into that room a second time and the manifestation occurred. One attack/one hit - end of encounter. That's how I played that one. The player then went and hacked the stuffed manticore to pieces.

It's made the party on edge and jinkies... scared. They feel "hostility from the house. I had people looking at them from the 2nd floor as they approached the house. Only to either disappear or change into ghoulish looking things and then disappear. I've played up the creaking/moaning/shifting of the house. I made the weather slowly increase in violence(storm) as they spend time there and so forth.

But again, does anyone see anything wrong? I keep thinking I'm making this out to be something bigger than it needs to be. I've read several of the haunt threads, but feel like I'm might have missed something mechanically.

Help?

So I think my google-fu is broken....

I have a player coming into my game, existing player, with a new character. A conjurer.
He has decided to create half-a dozen scrolls or so, mostly summon monster III.

Given it is a scroll, is there a limit to the number of monsters summoned?
I know the spell itself has limits, but what I am asking is can he use a scroll and summon 1d3 2nd level monsters, use another scroll and summon one 3rd level monster and so forth until he exhausts his scroll supply?

Or is the limit of the spell what it "says" in it's description. Did I miss a wording?

Or could he basically create his own animal army given enough scrolls?

I just want to make sure I understand the rules for this before we go into any fight. I would hate to be "that DM" and when he gets ready for a big bad and go, "yeah... sorry, you only get 1d3 eleentals. period". I'd rather be the one who says, "well, it is a 20x20 room, how many do you think can fill it? Go."

So... any and all help in understanding this is appreciated!
Thanks!

yeah... Bellona, you're right.

But I didn't like that. At least not for what he could be for the story.

I have a player who's running a Witch and has stated he is weak to "lust for power".

So as soon as he stepped foot into Thistletop, Mal reached out to him trying to contact him or one of the other party members.

Somewhere along the adventure after Nualia, the group split up and explored the areas below.

He was on point.

He met Mal first. One thing led to another and he made a blood pact with the Greater Barghest and released him.

Now this is done based on story alone, no mechanics involved.
The rest of the party see the end of the agreement as the two shake bloody hands. The Barghest turns and sneers at the rest of the party... and simple walks out, and slowly fades from sight.

A resounding WTF did you do? Came from my table. But it all has come into play. I played up the influence of Pazzuzu in Sandpoint, and given agents of Lamashtu captured ol' Mal back in the day. I figure once outside of his cage, he'll feel a tug in that direction and serve Mr. P. He will slowly tutor our Witch in darker roads of power and be a conduit for Pazzuzu to influence/control this PC.

Now that said, the player knows this and wants to see how this will go. We've already lost one character to Pazzuzu and the Island. And no, he didn't die. Just started questioning he sanity.

I digress. I think you can play him how ever you want. He makes a tough fight, especially if the party goes directly to him after fighting Nualia and the other nasties before him. Yes, he is a red herring, but I see him(at least in my game) as a voice from the past. He'll be a mouth piece to offer hints, clues or more red herrings as the story unfolds.

I had to add Bruthamuz to the mix, and reskinned the Yeth hound to a Shadow Mastiff, just to keep my group 0f 6 challenged.

3 rounds in she had to activate necklace to gain temporary HP and survive. She charmed one of the fighters to help her attempt to escape, and eventually surrendered.
Now granted, two players went to negative hp, but no deaths.

So she's a captive now, and headed back to and answer for what she has done.

Thanks, Mudfoot. Excellent points.
Especially the fire aspect. I had forgotten that little write up about how they normally burn down their warren's and this is the first site that has last a long time.

So, check on the craziness. Will do.
There's a kobold chart that had d20 things they would do during a fight. Like if they defeat an opponent, they would drop their weapons and start celebrating and such. I'll have to play that up.

Thanks, again.

So we entered into Thistletop last night after losing two players to the rope bridge and the bunyip.

I introduced the two replacement characters having been captured by the outer patrol and were being dragged into the trophy room. The group of surviving party members attacked the goblin dogs and their riders outside the gates, and took the fight inside during the combat.

My question is how alert is Thistletop? Should a patrol(most likely) find the remains of their companions?

On another note - the group found the stairs going down next to the next level, by passing Ripnugget and other areas. The first room they encounter is the nursery. I went ahead and populated it with a few children. One of the new characters who protects his tribe from goblinoids, killed each of them, and burned a pile of linen refuse, and then each of the "cribs", proceeded to close the door and move on.

So, smoke and fire.
Given it won't go much further than the items in the room(stone floors/walls/etc). The harem is next door. Does the smoke alert them? Or just a normal check on the kids moment.

It's night, and in my game Nualia is messing with the normal nocturnal habits of the goblins. Requiring at least half of them be active and awake during the day.

My thinking is two fold. I was going to let the group meander for a bit, thinking they've outwitted the goblins and that they are being all "sneaky". When in reality, a patrol has found the corpse in the trophy room and placed the upper floor on alert. The doors to the next level are open, and while stupid, they're not dumb. And the goblins will send guards to search below.

Bruthazmus, while engaged in amorous(ahem) moments with the harem, will smell the smoke and hear voices not speaking goblin and not any human voices he is accustomed to hearing. He will investigate and possibly raise an alarm. He will also recognize them as the heroes of Sandpoint, and want revenge. I had them encounter his younger brother in a side quest earlier in the campaign. So his fight will be more personal, and he will be altered to meet this larger party too.

So... does this sound about right?

This has the potential for alot more enemies than the party can face. A TPK is a strong chance, not definite chance though.

They have rescued a beaten/bruised Shalelu so it won't be a total TPK. We have, at the moment, five 4th level player characters. A fighter/bard, rogue, druid(with wolf animal companion), witch and spell-less ranger. And there is a 6th player, but he's out for a few sessions, stupid real life. They had a made pact with Gogmurt prior to going in, after defeating him, and he has not sent Ripnugget a warning. They then rested prior to going in. So they're mostly at full health and have access to all their spells.

So TL:DR, how would you handle this?

Thanks HowForuitous, that is what I was struggling with.

Concept-wise, it fits hand and hand in the idea of being a sneaking goblin killing scout. We worked it out though. He raised the question, poked at me to make ruling, and by the time we actually got together at the table to discuss it he had completely rewritten his character concept.

So... yeah.

Thanks, Ashram. You basically stated what I was thinking.

Unless there's a better reason, I'm gonna favor the weapon description. Because looking at the strangler feat, I too got the impression that would be bare handed. A choke holder, or forearm wrap. Something other than a weapon.

Thanks again.

Hi all!

I have a player who is wanting to take the strangler feat(see below) and wants to use a garrotte as his weapon of choice.

It seems the feat says yes, while the weapons says no.
More or less the gist is, the feat allows you to do sneak attack damage if you make a successful cmb attack. But the weapon says you can't use sneak attack damage with it.

Which one is correct? From the d20pfsrd.com below.

Strangler (Combat)

Throttling the life out of enemies is second nature to you.

Prerequisite: Dex 13, sneak attack +1d6, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike.

Benefit: Whenever you successfully maintain a grapple and choose to deal damage, you can spend a swift action to deal your sneak attack damage to the creature you are grappling.

Garrote

A garrote is a length of wire or thin rope with wooden handles at both ends. The wire is placed across a victim's throat and crossed behind the neck; when the handles are pulled tight, the garrote strangles him.

Description: In order for you to use a garrote, your opponent must be helpless or unaware of you. You must make a grapple check (though you avoid the –4 penalty for not having two hands free) to successfully begin garroting your opponent. Sneak attack damage does not apply to a garrote. Your garroted opponent must make a concentration check (DC 20 + your CMB + level of the spell he’s casting) to cast a spell with a verbal component, use a command word item, or use any magic requiring speech. You gain the following additional option when grappling with a garrote.

Choke: You cut off your target’s air supply so he has to hold his breath (see Suffocation, and the Swim skill for additional information). Any round you do not maintain the choke, your opponent can take a breath and restart when he has to begin making Constitution checks.

Weapon Feature(s): choke

Rushing across the bridge to Thistletop.

Sordil Til, human alchemist 4th level, fell through a broken board plummeting to the icy cold(it's winter in my game) waters below. After a few rounds, he is unable to find his way to the surface and drowns.

Hal, human fighter(defender) 4th level, went after his friend. Climbed down to the water line via his silk rope. Only to fail a climb check and he too fell into the water.
The bunyip, already agitated from Sordil's fall, and the two goblins who's corpses were tossed in the waters early, charged this living meal. Grabbing his left arm in it's mouth and draggin Hal under water, the two struggled until the bunyip gnawed off Hal's arm and he bled out.

Of course, our cleric/inquisitor was out that night, leaving 3 new players(more or less) just moving on and leaving those two to their own fate.

I guess a better question is, what do you want it to be?

I know what you're thinking, and I fall into this trap too. I want to fall in line with canon, or what is written way too often. But the truth is, it's your game. Do you want another level to explore or exploit? Add it. But I'd do it after this, and maybe as a side trek.

But I'd make it risky to say the least. It's below sea level, it is underground in an ancient statue. Regardless of how well the head has survived, the buried portion(s) is breaking down. The residual magic is weakened and it is becoming structurally unsound. The X that inhabit it now have created side tunnels/rooms away from this part. They too are swayed by Lamashtu and are horribly mutilated in their features and outlook.

Sorry... rambling. The long and short of it is, that it is up to you. But doing so kinda speeds up the reveal of Thassilon to the players.
Just my two cents. :D

Thanks for the help.

@Belafon. Right. He also had previously cast Speak with Animals preparing for this moment. Then after the charm went off spoke to the wolf. Opposed Charisma checks were made. 26 vs a 6. He convinced the companion that his druid friend had betrayed him or some-such and the wolf attempted to trip the PC druid. Not kill them. All in an attempt to stall.

And while I did ask if this was the way RAW would have worked, and thanks to all 3 of you for your insight. It is appreciated. Story has to setup against rules alot. You've seen it where boon companions are tricked into thinking the other is an enemy in books, comics, movies.
So I ask, if this level 4 druid cannot do something like that to a PC druid, why even have it as an option in his spell selection? I'm trying to make the two work, and feel like, after all the great explanations, I didn't or couldn't.

Trying to keep the game fun and not overtly gamey. In the end, it worked out fine.
She did have the wolf "heel", and it looked confused and befuddled. Whomped on the goblin druid with her staff hard enough, he yielded, after he had sent out an animal messenger. And that's where we ended it.

Thanks again.

So our Druid had her animal companion fail epically against a Charm Animal spell last night.

The opposing Goblin Druid from RotRL, told it to "trip" her. I rolled poorly, describing that the wolf was struggling with the command. Which was a lie.

I rolled a 26 on the opposing charisma rolls.
The druid then bolted to let the wolf contend with the PC druid.

The PC Druid then wanted to regain control of her companion. I just had it make a save again with her "help".

Did I do this right by RAW? Or is there another way this could have been done?

From my end it felt anti-climatic, but the PC freaked out with the charmed animal. Which I enjoyed waaaayyy to much.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks!

Druid grove accepts it, is sad about what happened, doesn't blame the PCs. Invites the druid PC to come by later and check in on things and to stop by if the PCs have questions or need to consult about nature things. Make this druid an ally instead of yet another source of 'bad guy plans'.

This is pretty much where I'm leaning, since posting my initial thoughts.

So an ally who accepts the egg will most likely be the better way to go.

Thanks, y'all.

Sometimes, you just need to "talk out loud" to work your thoughts out. And get feedback from others help.

Thanks again.

So I have a situation, that I take responsibility for, where my group recovered an owlbear egg. The egg was just "laid" in the last few weeks, and expected to hatch in spring. It's a couple of weeks into winter. It's parents were hibernating, when two thieves attempted to steal it, and instead woke the parents.

Long story short, the group druid has the egg now and has been suggested to her to seek out a druid grove in an nearby area.

I've hinted that the egg is hatching prematurely. Not really sure if that is something I want to do, but my mouth got the better of me.

So I've managed to paint myself into a corner and not sure how I want to resolve this. The group has left Sandpoint(due to murder charges/other political problems I've started) and I needed/wanted to get them back on path and head to Thistletop.
So I put the grove in the Moss Wood.
I plan it being a small (1 druid) grove.

I'm trying to decide how to make this important, and not be a "We go to the druid and give them the egg. Thanks" encounter.

I can't decide how I want the druid to respond. Does he/she act offended that the party druid didn't save the egg's parents? Are they aloof, and say let the egg survive without help(as nature would intended) and see if it survives.

The group has already started several plots with bad guys planning and doing... well bad things. I'm not sure I want to play out a druid planning plotting bad things either. But I want to involve my druid player into the world. Having her take charge of the egg has been a great start. But I don't want to burden her with the egg and have it get destroyed in a fight and then drop guilt on her for that. Y'know? I hope this make sense. There are other subtleties in gameplay(as they always are) that are TLDR for this post.

So I'm stumped for ideas.
Help me Advice forum... you're my only hope.

So last night I had a situation pop up I hadn't had to deal with before.

I had a player who was knocked prone, and he fought from the ground. Fine.
We were fighting Troglodytes wielding toothed clubs.
The player wanted to grab a hold of the club, to prevent an attack and help him when he returned a swing.

I thought about it, and granted I don't know ALL the rules, I decided to do a CMB vs CMD (disarm-ish move). If he succeed he would get a +2 to his next attack or the attacker would get a -2 to his attack, and I'd let the player decide which he'd prefer.

He wanted the plus to attack.
He succeeded, but the bad guy went before his next turn, and critical fumbled(we use the decks), and criticaled himself, yanking the club away from the fighter's hold. Thereby smashing himself in the face.

Now... it was a fun part of the game. And fun is the number one rule.

But game-wise, how would that have worked? Or would it work with the RAW?
Help?

Thanks y'all.
Great advice, and it was used last night.

Alas... she tried. I even gave her a couple of bonuses behind the screen but she could not roll to save her life or those of the owlbears.

She berated the group for not attempting a different solution, which made for some great RP, and has helped to bring her more out of her wallflower stage.

Thanks again.

Ok, this hasn't happened yet..but...

I have a random encounter for a side trek(#what?) in my game tonight. The party is having a charmed Thoul lead them to her lair. Well over the course of a few emails, I have established that during their travel through a newly snow covered forest (the Tickwood), 3 of the 6 players (secret perception rolls by me) notice two men running towards them with swords drawn.

As the course of email questions started flying back and forth, they are starting to suspect these two guys are not going to attack them, but are really fleeing something else.

An mated pair of Owlbears who they stole an egg or eggs(haven't decided) from. My plan is to have the men, hand off their backpack with the owlbears offspring to someone in the group(roll randomly) and let the chaos ensue.

Now, we have a mostly new player playing a Druid. And she's been taking cues from my other lead players and this might come into play.

An attempt to calm down the owlbears. I've let her calm down and deal with domesticated animals. Dogs and horses mainly.

I have no problem her attempting this. So if it happens, how do I handle it?
Diplomacy?
Handle animal?
A combination of both(or more)?

Because, I know I can hand wave it, and I'd love to see her try. Talk about empowering a player if she were to succeed. :D

But I also have a couple of rules lawyers who hold me to RAW on occasion.

So, helps Advice board, you're my only hope.

Yeah, they're not listed either way(locked or unlocked). But speaking from experience, lock the doors leading to the cathedral. Otherwise, your group will probably walk right in. Much like mine did, and confront Elyrium. Nasty, unexpected and totally worth it.

Sorry for the necro, but I was/am in the same boat. I've been playing up Lamashtu's overarching feel. The party has been having Brodert research demon worship in Thassilon and how it might be connected.

Hints, mind you are stronger on PC's then outright telling them "It's Lamashtu, she's behind it!!!" or "No, no, no - She isn't involved." They won't believe you.

So they know she's involved, and I've pulled in Pazuzu into the mix. One PC has been doing some detective work, and is slowly uncovering his involvement in the Chopper murders(in my game). Inadvertently, drawing the King of Air's attention. So much so, that I have random things pop up, like strange bird patterns, people speaking in strange patterns and references with him. "He watches." "He tests her." "The King sees all."

Just messing with him, and it's taken a life of it's own.
I was heading down that road with Lamashtu, just dropping hints and ideas. To where the group "thinks" she has a hand in the sidhedron symbol.

I say, play or down play to flavor your game as much as you see fit.
Keep us posted.

Thanks, Are. I'll check that out. My quick google-fu search came up nil.

Dungeon 117 Cover

So, I've got the issue in storage... and I was flipping though issues to get an idea for a side quest for my Rise of the Runelords group and saw the cover. I've never run anything from it. A quick cursory look through doesn't reveal any info on it.

So... what are these nasty looking things? They look AWESOME, intelligent, evil and look to be great threats.

Are they shadows? Aberrant black puddings, molds, oozes?
Doppelgangers gone wild?

If you know, can help my wee DM brain?
Thanks!

***fixed url - thanks to Are for pointing it out.

WOW

Just wow. I picked up three today. I'm at work and have only opened up one. Shrines.
Love it. Love the quality, love the coating, love the fact that there are multiple sheets to play with and that they all seem to work with other map packs.

Just sweet. Now I'm kicking myself for not getting into them sooner.

They're 3rd level at the moment, They've been ripping through most encounters of the AP with not much loss of resources and that's with me beefing up the encounters. Y'know adding additional Sinspawn(or additional monsters), upping HP on baddies that sort of thing. And God love 'em, they're tricky and just plain smart.
So...

I was thinking of adjusting the Harpy or digging through either Midgard Bestiary or the Tome of Horrors to find something nastier but on level.

And thanks NobodysHome.
I've been trying not to deviate too much from the AP, but I've already blown the mytho's involved by including Pazuzu and more demonic influences in the region. But the more I play the more I make decisions/choices that are more in line with story arcs and ideas we've started, not the AP. Which is fine, but sometimes that rules lawyer in me peeks out. :D

So we played last week and in-between the time I wrote the initial post here, and last night another side quest popped up.

One of my players, an Alchemist, wanted to make Holy Water. After explaining, you're an Alchemist, Jim, not a priest; we worked out a way for him to get quite of few vials if he did a service for the Church of Lathander(one of the seven operating in Sandpoint). Sure he says.
Ok, bait taken.
So I pull up a plan for him to meet with a seller who has a map to a relic that the church wants. He is to hand off a letter of credit to the man, who in turn gives him the map. The map is a map to the Storage Vault of Alantes. A 3 room dungeon(at best), which I picked up specifically for this side quest. And then I dug through my old dungeon magazines and found an awesome one involving a cloaker who is feeding on a small hamlet that has a cememtary. It's attacking at night, moaning, eating people and leaving only bones - must be an undead.

So the plan is the group goes to the hamlet to meet the merchant seller, who decided to check out the location of the vault entrance, it's in the cemetery and can only be accessed under the shadow of night. He and his assistants were attacked (feared) by the cloaker and he is the only survivor and he dropped the map. That was several days ago, and the creature has feed a few more times.
Enter the party, they meet him, and the railroad begins.

So with that taken care of I spoke with the player who has been inquiring about Chopper and Pazuzu. I used Brodert Quink as my mouth piece for info on demon's, possession, how it is believe that the Thassilonians openly operated with demons. Which he was all "ok, cool." about. He expressed to me he likes the idea of playing a possessed person. Or potentially working for Lamashtu's competition, which is how I've been angling this... kinda.

Two other things have happened, and for whatever reason I could not stop myself last night.
I had been prepping them since day one, every tenday or so, a caravan of merchants comes through and that there might be one who deals with magic items.
I did, and they did. But I had generated a ton or just junk(Thank you Raging Swan Press) and a couple of nice items but with really high price tags. Like a wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. Even with all they're money combined the party doesn't have enough. So my player from above(see Chopper Island) asks, "by any chance is there any thing that we could to lower the cost? Do you need guards, pick an item from a seller. Anything?"
I could not help myself. "Why yes," I purred in my bad Middle Eastern accent. And explained after they dropped their third companion(They are the Three Dragons of the Golden Road) off in the village where we are going to get the map of Alantes, they were attacked by Harpies. One of their pack animals carrying an important shipment of items was taken, as well as two of their me. If the party could recover the items, and the men, they could work out a substantial discount for the wand - in a nutshell- it was actually about an hours worth or roleplaying discussing things, making up legends and buttering up the party.

Even as I said the words, I could not believe what I was doing. But they ate it up and we were having fun.

And earlier in the game, my son's character had ordered a masterwork weapon be made by Das Korvut and it was scheduled to be picked up. I had him find Das being beaten, and his armory ransacked by 3 local Scarzni thugs who encouraged him to rethink his need for protection.
I expected my son to hold back, wait for them to leave and then tend to the NPC and investigate later after he had more info.
Sigh
No, he charges in grappling one of the men and nearly killing him; while threatening the other two to leave, not come back and remember who did this to them.
Oy... then after they leave he talks with Das who thanks him apologizes for the axe not being ready, they took it, and he the laments about the loss of his family. He gets consoled, then my son says, "can I see where those guys went?" Sure why not. He explores the dock, most people avoid his questions about them, as they have an idea who he dealt with. Two dockers tell him to shut up or he'l bring down the wrath of the Scarzni, to which he laughs and continues. I have him see one thugs, who had been keeping an eye out for him in a nearby alley. And of course, my son chases after him. Insults, and words are thrown bout, the thief/thug scales one of the buildings like a parkour athlete, and the half-orc fighter in full armor chases after him. Gets close, but falls in a jump between buildings.

So I've got 3-4 adventures setup that are vaguely related to the AP. And I can't stop. I'm starting to wonder if I goofed, or I just need to just calm down and run with it.

I was thinking more about the Harpy encounter today, I've been hinting more and more about Pazuzu's and Lamashtu's influence in this area. And how it's been increasing. Like they might be one upping each other, as one of my players said, and I went "sure". Mouth won't stop.
Anyway... I was thinking about making it a complete red herring. And instead of harpies it was ... something else. What that something was, I have no idea at the moment. But the cloaker and the Storage Vault may kill a couple of players.

Spoilers....

The Storage Vault has a Gray Ooze(nasty, nasty, nasty), confined spaces, and large custom plant/aberration monster. And I think Harpies might be too much. Any suggestions for an alternative? Or should I just reskin the harpies into lesser creatures that are "like" them but just not as powerful?

Whoops, just noticed it had half a thought in that last post.

Imaskar was the first overpowering human empire, predating even Netheril. It was responsible for the creation of the oldest empires still in existence, the ancient empires of Mulhorand, Unther and Chessenta. They were the first astronomers and the first to give names to the planets. Their artificer-kings held tremendous power and respect, leading forays into other planes to bring back otherworldly slaves for use in building the cities of Imaskar (one such plane was Earth's). Later, Southern elves and the Shou (at least, people from Kara-Tur) helped them to improve their knowledge and expand their power, further strengthening the empire.

The empire was destroyed in -2488 DR by a cataclysmic uprising among their Mulan and Untheric slaves assisted by the incarnate gods of the slaves themselves. By this time it is suggested that the slaves in Imaskar numbered in the tens of millions. The war that followed was brief but catastrophic, and the destructive battles between the Imaskari artificer-kings and the slave's vengeful gods destroyed most of the empire, whilst the freed slaves looted and burned the once proud cities. The event led to the creation of the Raurin Desert.

:D No worries. Kinda figured. But still CYA.

First and foremost, my players are the heroes. There might be bigger, badder npc good guys, but they do not take center stage. Ever.

Imaskari was an ancient empire in the what is now the Raurin desert. Took up Mulh

Because yeah... the events have recently unfolded, plus, what's the point of using someone else's characters to win the game. :P

And while it might be a sticking point, they are not omnicient. And if they really were that way, then there'd be no evil at all, right? Big world, big problems. Elminster might be nice and powerful, but he's got his hands full, the Harpers are dealing with issues in the Heartlands, Driz'zt is in the north, the Chosen have their own issues. And even if they were involved, they often use proxies to do their bidding. At least in my games, should I use them.

It predates the Netheril empire which was only established -3859 DR. If Thassilon was a 10,000 year old empire, then it's quite older than the Netherse. And it was more closely related to the Imaskari empire, in region and age.

Sure I could go that way, but after much debate, I am thinking I may want more Paz involved in this campaign. If nothing else, the "enemy of my enemy" and potential for the temptation of power fits with the way things are going. Plus the whole, "things not meant to know" works great too. See I'm not running in Golarion, but the Forgotten Realms. Set in the coastline of Thesk, north of Teflamm. So I have ancient Rus flavor, mixed with eastern mysticism, and middle eastern occult, all due to the placement. Plus it was the setting everyone wanted to play in, we took a vote and everything. :P

Good stuff. Yeah, I found an entry on d20pfsrd.com that has a write up of Pazuzu and one of his abilities listed is... possession. But the Soul Jar idea is good too.

And they guy playing is a top notch gamer. He once played a boar mount to a gnomish paladin and stole the show. So he's a capable rp'er, and so possession is a long game story we could do. Especially since, I think I'd have ol Paz empower him to thwart Lamashtu, while eating away at his soul.

And death is an option. We had two encounters in the caverns that had 1-2 players dying at various points and people had thought they were all tough and I wouldn't let them die.

So they realize their mortality, and it's a good group. But this sense of "I must do this without endangering the group" thinking came outta left field for me. Not a true problem, just something I'm having to wrap my head around.

Thanks, it's really got me thinking.