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So I'm looking for ideas of things to put into an underwater temple for an expedition of intrepid investigators (sorcerer, druid and rogue)... My players are level 4 and should reach level 5 or 6 by the end of it. I'm going with a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe in terms of adventurous expedition, etc. They're members of the Pathfinder Society and they have a leader with them (NPC) who just wants to chronicle what they find and do some archaeology.

I don't mind vastly over-levelled bad guys if we can treat them as environmental hazards or the PCs can sneak around them (I can always nerf their perception dice pools if needed). The place has been abandoned by most sentients for hundreds of years.

I want the temple to have sections that are submerged, sections with old air (i.e. in time they can't breathe in it) and sections that are safe to breathe (likely with plants to fix carbon dioxide).

I also want to seem beautiful on the surface but when you truly comprehend it you realise just what twisted purposes it is designed for. So it needs to be for a hedonistic people or at least a people that can perceive beauty in a way that is akin to humans. Lovely waterfalls and beautiful blue marble, plants that would devour a person or beautiful altars that steal your skin should you lay on them.

Food that fascinates and muddles the will, grown from strange vines, and meats you can carve from living examples of creatures woven into a web of flesh, that do not die no matter what you carve, etc.

Any particular room designs you think would work? New hazards to throw at them?

Don't worry, they have access to some degree of Water Breathing and I'll be encouraging them to swim down with gear and then camp there.

So I've found a lot of dungeon and forest maps, even a fair few street ones, but not so much shop, workshop, business, government buildings and homes. Does anyone know of a map maker who focuses on urban environments and especially indoor ones for battle maps? Happy to subscribe to a Patreon to nab them.

So I'm looking at some woodland encounters and starting to think up some trap ideas, so I thought it might be a good idea to create a thread where everyone can put up any custom traps they've made! Especially mundane (nonmagical) ones which are often tricky to think up like nightingale floors, etc.

I'll put up mine in a bit. Still working on a few tweaks.

So one thing I've noticed is that a lot of battle maps of various buildings use anachronisms like hallways, beds, separate bedrooms for everyone and the like in even peasant's cottages and while that's absolutely fine to do (Pathfinder is riddled with anachronisms and is all the better for it), I'm after some more historically accurate designs.

In other words, inns with straw mats in the loft and peasant's cottages that have little fenced enclosures for their livestock in the same building as the families who live there. I just have a lot of fun turning player expectations on their heads when their characters lie down on a hessian wrapped straw mattress! And it helps remind me of other fun things like fleas.

So I was wondering if any of you knew a map maker, map designer or map pack that has urban or rural locations that are pretty accurate and old school in design. Something more Kingdom Come: Deliverance than the Witcher (awesome as they both are).

Hey folks, figured I'd make a thread as I don't know if one exists already, for those who like making bestiary types or musing on the possibilities. I figured as an unusual 1st level challenge in a game that's starting off rather idyllic, I'd make the PCs have to catch chickens that are all over a little village surrounded by stone walls.

What are some good chicken catching challenges that use various skills? I'm already thinking a kid might have grabbed a chicken and decided to keep it (Diplomacy or Deception roll!)

Does anyone have, or want to make, a 2.0 chicken bestiary entry?

So my PCs have decided to take on Zelmisdria the succubus and her green dragon buddy in the gap between the Herald getting nabbed and being called on to go and fix things. (Wanted them to have some time to get reacquainted with the Worldwound rather than the Abyss). What sort of things should I fill the dragon pile with? And what kind of cool lair could the succubus have? I'll have them fight elsewhere, but finding the lair would be cool so just some descriptive stuff, interesting prisoners, cool evil items, would be great.

So we finished the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign a few years ago and I thought I could have some fun dropping one or more of Kazavon's relics in the Worldwound that could connect with a Nidalese army who are potential allies / potential enemies. Or possibly a Hellknight army whose leader is quietly using a Kazavon artefact or more. I'm wondering, though, whether those relics can be de-eviled by the Purity Forge and, if so, whether that means that Drezen's future will be one of pilgrimage to de-evil objects?

If not, which my players would accept, what should the criteria be? Only minor artefacts and intelligent items? Should I just make those artefacts Mythic (and all other super evil ones like it) and say that it can't function on Mythic items?

So I've been rolling two random events a week to represent how quickly things change in Drezen and one of the things I rolled up is the following:

New Subjects: A small group of indigenous intelligent creatures joins your kingdom and submits to your rule. Society and Stability increase by 1, Unrest decreases by 1, and your Treasury increases by 1d6 BP (each time you roll a 6, add the result to the total and roll again).

I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't want to introduce new tieflings (as they have enough) and having read The Worldwound Gambit it's highly unlikely most cultists would have the wherewithal to defect.

I've considered having them be ifrits from a nearby settlement (as there's so much lava and thus the possibility of elementals), exhausted crusaders who didn't even realise the Worldwound collapsed and have made it east from somewhere west, exhausted tribesmen who've done the same, or even a bunch of refugees who were held in the slave pits before the main demonic forces from Drezen fled and who were locked up in the caverns, necessitating all kinds of terrible choices.

What do you reckon? Any ideas?

So I'm currently running the "Demon Within" module after adapting it to occur partway through Demon's Heresy. The hourglass basically allows you to take the ashes of the dead, run them through the hourglass, and create Greater Shadows from the ashes that can be stored in urns. The party want to transport this heavy thing to Drezen and use the Purity Forge on it. Presuming they manage to do it, how would its purification operate? I mean, can you pour the ashes / bone dust of the undead through it to ensure they pass on cleanly? Would that work?

Can you think of alternatives?

Now I noticed a very easy to justify difference between the Drezen in the Worldwound Campaign Setting book and the Drezen described in the AP. The setting book states that Drezen has a population of 7,489 humanoids with roughly half as cultists and the other as prisoners and slaves. The AP only has a several hundred tieflings and cultists - though most were likely marched down toward Nerosyan with the bulk of the demonic forces so that's pretty much explained in the AP.

How about all of those slaves and prisoners, of which there's only a couple hundred in the AP? Well, the AP doesn't want you to have to manage all those folks and all the cult conspiracies, spies and simply broken nervousness that would include. That makes sense. It would turn it into a very different game. Perhaps most of them were slaughtered before the main armies marched out so they couldn't cause trouble? Perhaps Invidiaks saddled up the majority alongside other possessing entities? Perhaps the demons, in their excitement, wiped them out just because?

Heck, since the Setting Book is set in the tail end of the Fourth Crusade, then mass starvation and plague could have set in and wiped them all out prior to the PCs taking Drezen -- which would certainly add to the horror themes.

But! If you want to include more prisoners and slaves or other sorts of folk, you certainly can.

Plus I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the initial inhabitants in Drezen were wiped out by abyssal contamination that drove them mad and made them kill each other. If you like, you could have a bunch of Warped Ones still sealed up in an old ruin who could break out and cause some action at home if you like.

So I'm running a lengthy game in Mendev and trying to think in terms of traps that would be useful against demons - ideally ones that can also be a pain to mortals, though demon-only traps would be good as well. Naturally there's things like cold iron spiked pit traps and the like, but what else could a person put in place to keep things safe and protected? Any ideas?

So at a slightly lower level, my party ran off to deal with the Weapon in the Rift scenario as I've been loving the Worldwound so much that I've pumped into it as many additional adventures as I can and popped it on the Slow XP Track. The party will be Mythic Tier 2, Level 10 - 11, when they return to deal with the aftermath. They have a Bard, Very Young Umbral Dragon (no loot but a necklace that allows Change Shape), Monk, and Oracle.

They could either bring Aravashniel (Wizard / Riftwarden), Ollysta Zadrian (Paladin), Osprey (Druid 11) or Jestak (Barbarian 11) along with them.

Basically I've come up with a moral dilemma that is exactly the kind of dastardly response you're likely to see from demonic forces but it's also a bit of a d--k move on behalf of the GM. I want to use the trick but also include a few potential answers so that the party has a good chance of getting in and out without suffering for it.

**Mild Spoilers for Weapon In The Rift Pathfinder Society scenario**

The Weapon In The Rift casts a Holy Word that affects everything within a 1 mile radius, weakening the powerful and killing the weak. Since the powerful are generally busy fighting multiple fronts elsewhere, it's up to the mid-range and the weak to actually take out the weapon and demoralise the troops as well.

So they've gathered up whatever Low Templars, Fallen Paladins, cultists and slaves, stripped them of their weapons and marched them toward the Weapon with a gaggle of Babau, Schir, Abrikandilu and other expendable low-level armies sent their way.

Since my game is a bit darker with a strong silver lining, I'd like to include a few kids among these poor folks as my party loves the chance to rescue kids. This would raise the stakes, but only so long as winning is probable. In fact, I probably won't include them being sighted unless the players are reasonably assured of success. If the players fail, the smaller figures could be identified as halflings.

The weapon has been recharged by this point but if they fire it, all neutral and evil folks will die. They've already glimpsed that when they lost a few Low Templars when the PCs set it off the first time around.

So my question to you fine fellows is: Are there ways to save the Neutral and Surrendered Evil folks among the crowd while setting off the Weapon? Or would the only way to win be to stay and fight - in which case I should have the armies better prepared? I'd rather not let it fall to a simple military fight since the demons would arguably have chosen a substantial force to ensure success.

I know a Miracle should be able to keep them safe (those who truly walk the road of redemption or live in neutrality be spared) but my PCs aren't of that level.

My PCs are otherwise partway through Demon's Heresy, in terms of wealth and loot.

NOTE: I *won't* include this scenario if it turns out that all is hopeless. I'll hold off on it if there's a later point where it would become possible to achieve it and if that would never happen then I wouldn't pull this encounter. This campaign is meant to be darkly heroic ... bad stuff happens, but the PCs prevail and save folks from the horrors. This isn't the right campaign for Lose-Lose or Pure Tragedy events.

So Season 5 seemed to gear up to the Pathfinders getting into Sky Citadel Jormurdun but then it never eventuates. There seems to be no adventures in Season 5 that deal with entering it nor any adventures in Season 6 that mention it. Did something happen in one of the scenarios - perhaps The Paths We Choose - that prevent it? I'm happy for spoilers. I just need to know what happened with it.

Does anyone know a convenient wiki - or can quote by heart - the various lists of titles or basic hierarchy of the various gods? For those chaotic religions without a main head, what priestly titles do they use to delineate that they are, indeed, clerics? Regrettably the main Gods & Magic books don't seem to have the titles, only Adventure Paths and various Country Settings.

Thus far, I've found titles such as

Lady of Intemperance (Cayden Cailean)

Bey of Sarenrae

Head Hetaera of Calistria

First Sword of Iomedae

Banker or Archbanker of Abadar.

Can you add to this list? Or do you know where the list can be found? What's the head of Asmodeus or Torag called? How about Shelyn? If there is no title, what would you use for them?

I'm running Wrath of the Righteous and now that my players are through Demon's Heresy I feel the need to introduce a roleplay heavy sub-section of the game as the players are getting a bit tired of the combatcombatcombat nature of the game and the characters could probably use a breather in another location to lend further contrast to the later Worldwound sections.

I can handwaive travel through Greater Teleport so that they're not gone so long that the plot will rush off without them but, basically, I need something to do while they're gone.

I came up with an idea for a possible fundraiser in Absalom that the PCs could attend and perhaps be guests of honour responsible for helping convince others to dig deep (one very charismatic oracle and a bard).

I'm wondering what kind of important NPCs could be in attendance, what sort of social trials they might need to muddle through, and perhaps some very nice sight seeing places to visit. An idea for a major venue would be great as well.

I'm figuring that each social trial they succeed on could provide the war effort with a certain amount of money, resources, and perhaps even a Lives Saved tally much like in the Korvosan adventure path but due to resources against demons rather than a plague.

One character is a would-be Calistrian who wants to visit a temple as well, while the barbarian wants to visit a brothel, so that's one sightseeing trip that could also fill in for the necessary tavern breather.

The bard is a worshiper of Shelyn whose also hoping to gather some extra crusaders from the Church of Sarenrae to help redeem some of the prisoners.

After running a few of the tiefling and cultist armies, I've started to wonder what they eat and drink. The main Worldwound campaign setting book describes a series of diseases and infections that plague any potential food or water source in the Worldwound. After all, even Purify Food and Drink isn't meant to work.

Presumably tieflings and cultists wouldn't be immune to these so what do they eat? It's not like Abyssal creatures are likely to leave some space open for pasture like devils might do. Heck, considering the Abyssal energies seeping into the land itself from the Abyss there's a good chance it wouldn't even be possible for a demon lord to achieve.

Those along the border could theoretically launch raids for food, but what about those further in? Is everyone infected by disease? Should they all be presumed to have an invisible 'regional trait' whereby they are infected / contagious but no longer feel the effects?

I've spent much of this year on a DMing free vacation and have decided to jump back into things with a full day Pathfinder fest using the Elder Scrolls setting and I figured: "Hey, we're doing lunch, why not theme it for the Altmer?"

So the Altmer are basically a temperate forest elf, big on civilisation and stone walls, quite civilised and more than a little racially supremacist. What might make for a good lunch (ideally something reheatable or edible cold) that would fit with their fare?

Hey everyone,

I know there's a few of them but I'm basically looking for a few good adventures involving manor houses so that I can a) run a bunch of themed adventures together; and b) have such houses available complete with floor plans and basic descriptions for when the PCs arrive at them.

I'd prefer the sort of gothic yet indulgent manor houses rather than ones that are entirely threadbare. The houses of scholars or explorers would be best for me as those are the sort of aristocrats my privateer party are most likely to meet.

Okay, so no offense to the other Golarion deities because they're all cool and all very individualistic, but I just can't gell with any of the male deities though there are several female good gods that I adore. I love Desna's liberation and free spirit, Sarenrae's interest in redemption, Shelyn's 'first with a rose' outlook which also smacks of a redeemer attitude, and even Iomedae is impressive and one I can look up to even if I wouldn't want to ape her suggested lifestyle. There are aspects to them that I'm not keen on, but I'm generally pretty happy with them.

Now what I'm about to say isn't God bashing. I'm just clarifying why I'm not all that keen on the existing main good gods, so that you might be able to help direct me toward lesser known male gods I might like.

The trouble is that I find Erastil and Cayden both chauvinistic in their own ways. Erastil because the woman should defer to her husband's will (though I know he's a good god, and therefore, if the man literally weren't capable of leading / organising, a woman's role would be to lead and organise for him, its deference not submission).

And Cayden because his drunken 'where's the wenches?' outlook, while not necessarily denigrating towards women', just doesn't warm me to him. He's not a bad guy, but he's not exactly a good role model by my own particular standpoints.

And before you say: Why does it have to be a male deity?

It's because I have this weird need to have a male God I can really like and identify with alongside the female deities.

I'm just weird. I'm me. So are there any more modern or progressive good gods in Golarion canon that'll help you in a pinch?

Hey all, in the section on bardic masterpieces it gives you some basic guidelines on how to invent your own. I was just wondering if anyone's done that, and if they'd like to share?

Okay, so I was reading the feat Eyes of Judgement from Ultimate Magic and it says that you can use Detect Alignment, spend awhile studying someone (three rounds) and ... detect their alignment? I'm guessing it's missing something? Or is it meant to be what you can use when you DON'T have that class feature?

Hmmm....

Right now I'm creating an NPC whose rather evil actions are for a greater good, done for the noblest reasons, in the worst situations, with a knowledge that he will die in the end, and with his eyes open that he's a nasty piece of work. His alignment will matter muchly in several ways so I need to figure it out. Unfortunately, as in all cases where you do much character creation, neat little lines in the sand are a pain to draw. Especially since those lines have unfortunate repercussions. There are many ways to define the alignment of good and evil (rather than the actions).

Good / Evil is a category based on intent. Of course, most villains believe they're the heroes of the story, even if any outsider can tell you that they're not. It's still workable, however, if you define intent as to prevent pain / help others (good); help themselves or take the easy option (neutral); or purposefully hurt and damage others(evil). Thus, a Nidalese slave owner could be good if they enslaved those who would otherwise be culled; neutral if they simply needed the labor without the consequence; or evil if it was to have a degraded and helpless work force.

Good / Evil is a sliding scale. Over the course of weeks or months, people may slide back and forth between the two, depending on the weight of their good or evil deeds. Every sin, no matter how small, tilts you toward evil by degrees and every redeemable action, no matter how small, tilts you toward good. Thus you could work your alignment up into good repeatedly with petty indiscretions though you'd need to work hard to scrub off each single act of rape or torture.

Good / Evil is a category based on deeds. Good deeds and bad ones have a heavy weight and thus the majority of people are neutral. Of course, you have to define good or evil deeds and their gravity. When is murder a grave deed considering how often adventurers partake? Is sacrificing a sentient creature any different than slaying a dozen of them?

Good / Evil is a category based on your nature. This could range from the simple, old school view of evil as a cackling monster and good as a being of harmony and sweetness; right to someone never committing an evil deed but being so enthralled by the pain they cause during their adventures that while they don't step off the path they're still evil to their core.

I know that alignment discussions tend to get quite heated so let's just agree to disagree from the start. This isn't about a morality amongst PEOPLE. This is about how you, as a STORYTELLER, define people according to story principles. Different games and different genres will impact which option you choose and which option you choose will impact the story, regardless of whether those definitions fit your real life views.

I'm more interested in a conversation amongst STORYTELLERS on how you've defined Good / Evil, whether you've consulted the players on your style of Good / Evil so you're all on the same page, and how it's affected your story.

For example, a sliding scale of good and evil makes it more dubious to judge and slay someone with an Evil alignment while a categorically Evil person under the cackling unambiguous style of game gives you little reason NOT to slay them.

I think I remember reading that Shelyn's mother was killed by another God who had crafted the soul-catching glaive and that the glaive was given to Zon-Kuthon while he was still the good deity and before he adventured beyond the stars. Is this so? Who killed their mother? Why? What was their mother's name (if it's known)? Why would the good version of Zon-Kuthon accept the glaive, in that case? Was that what he and Shelyn argued over before he ran off?

Does anyone know these answers?

So I'm planning to give the settlements different flavors by introducing the settlement traits. What I know so far about this Andoran port city:

Metropolis. 54,200 people. 70% human, 12% Halfling, 8% dwarf, 4% elf, 4% gnome, 2% other. Democratic. NG. Mayor Radas Menadian.

I assumed it fell under 'Council' run as it's not an autocratic mayor by any stretch of the word. I assumed the +4 Modifiers means that all Modifiers start at +4.

Corruption: 2 (4 - 2 for Holy Site)
Crime: 4
Economy: 5 (4 + 1 for Strategic Location)
Law: 2 (4 - 2 for Council Run)
Lore: 4 (4 + 1 for being Neutral - 2 for Council run + 1 for Naval Academy)
Society: 9 (4 + 1 for being Good +4 for Council run)

17,600gp base cost. 110,000gp purchase limit. Spellcasting up to 9th. All minor items, 4d4 medium and 3d4 major items.

It can have 6 Qualities and I've picked:
Academy (Navy).
Holy Site (Iomedae - I imagine there'd be a large church to her here).
I'm considering Racially Intolerant (Chelish).
Strategic Location (Port).

I'm also wondering whether I should create a quality around it being largely a Naval Port all that military. It might may decrease crime / corruption but then again drunken naval sailors might mitigate that.

I also imagine that a lot of freed slaves get dropped off here and am wondering what sort of disadvantage might depict that.

Any thoughts? Ideas for other qualities / disadvantages it might have? Do my qualities look about right?

Heck, even telling me how you've run Augustana in the past would give me a clue as to what sort of qualities might be there and how I can run it myself.

Well, I'm sanctioning the Faction Guide rules and have offered to custom create a few factions, if need be, that fit the game world if players show an interest. This is a very heavy faction-game and some of them would be custom-made just out of my own interest.

One of my players is interested in a faction that brings together witches, whether similar in nature to druidic circles or academies or some sort of other network. He's more interested in doing it for the RP, rather than the cheese (we've talked it over and I'm satisfied) but I'm wondering what the fluff for such a thing might be.

So, brainstorm time! Come up with all the weird and wonderful ways one could have a faction largely filled with witches. Don't censor yourself now.

Well, if any of my players are reading this ... No! Bad players. You know my username so you know this is me.

Now I've gotten that out of the way, I was wondering if anyone knows what the climate / temperature / flora / fauna of Cheliax is. Basically, I'm creating this little island about 40 miles off the coast of Cheliax, midway between the edge of Andoran and Westcrown. I already know what the various enemies will be that they'll face but am keen to get any information I can on making it feel suitably Chelish. I've heard Cheliax is temperate, the map makes it look like the coast is hot / dry, but I've also read in some of the books that Westcrown (or was it Corentyn?) snows in winter. Any advice would help!