TyroAmberhelm's page

Yay! Nice work House.

SCHMACKLED SCHMITY is the best!

I didn't use them at all. Just another organization out of a thousand to not pay any attention to. Am I right?

Seems like they would show up for Foundation of Flame, but your party might not remember them.

I basically gave them whatever they wanted at regular price but depending on the item's power it would take 1-3 weeks for delivery. I would just time it so that it had a minimum level of inconvenience.
The items were either coming from Maavu and the Chisel or from Meethran. In my campaign Skie is a member of the Striders of Fharlahgn.

There was a changing inventory in Skie's store, but I would try to make these items flavor or non-combat/rp type items: Robe of USeful Items, Harp of Charming,etc. My players like that kind of stuff.

The things that they could "order" would be the passive stat bump items: Your +1 swords and your rings of Protections, etc.

I didn't want to put too much difficulty in getting magic items because the players want their magic, right?

My players and I have been playing a 5th edition campaign alongside our Shackled City campaign. We are growing to love 5th edition and growing increasingly more annoyed at the crunch of Pathfinder/3.5.

Has anyone started converting SCAP to 5th edition yet?
Any advice?

Didn't Saureya turn up again in a later Dungeon magazine AP? IIRC, it was in Savage Tide.

Possibly. I don't intend to continue these adventure paths after Shackled City though.

I always though that Saureya was an odd NPC and also that Alakast was pretty lame for a legendary weapon.

I was toying with the idea of making Alakast an intelligent weapon inhabited by the soul of a celestial. Alakast would be Nidrama's brother and like Nidrama, he was charged with protecting the realm around Cauldron.

Alakast would only be able to speak on Occipitus. So when the party got there he would "awaken" and take on the role of Saureya.

The only problem I'm having is coming up with a backstory as to how and why the celestial came to inhabit the weapon. Also reconciling that story with how he helped Adimarchus engineer the Test of the Smoking Eye.

I though perhaps that, like Nidrama, Alakast was not allowed to directly intervene with the mortal realm. As a way to skirt that law, he volunteered to inhabit the weapon. Since he cannot speak and is being controlled by a PC, he is helping to protect the realm without directly intervening.

I also think Alakast is a little weak. Bane is pretty good. (+2 and extra 2d6dam to evil outsiders) But I'm considered making the weapon +3 vs Nabthatorn and possibly Adimarchus. I am also considering having the weapon morph to the weapon of choice of whoever wields it. (seriously...who uses a quarterstaff?) The weapon would permanently take that form once it's attuned.

I thought this added some much needed flavor to Alakast and also eliminated an odd (imo) NPC.

I do need your guys help coming up with a good backstory though.....Any Thoughts?

Thanks for the feedback Cyrad.
What are the drawbacks of spellstoring?
What is Nova?

Nobody?

I've come up with a custom magic item in my game and am just looking for some feedback particularly if you guys think this is too OP for an unchained rogue 5 / magus 3

+1 Rapier

3 levels of spell storing (3-1st, 1-1st and 1-2nd, OR 1 3rd)
He can use these spells per the Magus spell strike ability

He can also throw the weapon and trigger the spells per the Magus spellstrike ability. The weapon boomerangs back to him.

He can also choose to trigger ALL of the spells at once. (1 or all)

The weapon has a bit of a backstory and he is a pretty unpredictable character so I was considering making the weapon "broken" somehow or adding some kind of Wild Magic feature to it. I was thinking this would offset the power of the weapon.

For flavor ideas, the weapon was created by a gnome earth wizard.

What do you think? Too OP? any other cool ideas?

I don't have the hardcover in front of me, by I would guess the bonus feats are from the Wizard list. (The Metamagic Feats)

Anyone anyone at all?

Especially those who used the Redgorge Seige developed here.

What was your situation in Cauldron like after the siege?

And also Greystaff, do you just randomly check this forum once a week to see if anyone is talking about stuff? lol.

I'm just starting Demonskar Legacy and I'm just curious as to how everyone's post Siege of Redgorge Campaign fleshed out.

Was the siege successful?
Did Skelllerang survive?
Is your Skellerang a bad guy?
If he survived did he turn good?
Did he still retain control of the Town guard?
If not, who did?

Did The Blue Duke survive?
What happens with all the Half-orcs?

What was the situation in Cauldron like?

etc, etc, etc.

I'm asking these questions because the Siege of Redgorge is kind of like an event horizon to me. I just have no idea what the setting is going to look like after that.

An act of war against a neighboring city is KIND OF a big deal, and the hardcover barely glosses over it.

I am currently planning on running Test of the Smoking Eye after the siege so that will be a good distraction, but how did all of this play out with everyone else?

You do have me thinking a bit. I don't want to force and railroad a capture because that is kind of cheesy.

Really all I want to do is make another appearance with Orbius(in beholder form)just as a reminder. They didn't really interact with Jil very much either so I would mind refreshing their memories of her. I haven't even foreshadowed Fish yet. I am using the alternate villain ideas so that's good.

The problem I'm having is that it's hard to justify an appearance from Orbius without him just killing the party outright. Of course he would do that.

And yes....they are just wrapping up Zenith Trajectory, so I'd like to foreshadow these villians again before the tax riots.

Chess Pwn...

That's the point of this thread. I'm trying to prevent them from running.

Drahliana...

I have already addressed the fact that I am aware I am railroading. It's not an issue and my players wont care.

What is your plan from stopping them from getting away?

I don't understand. Do you mean once they are captured?

Andostre wrote:

Hostages. People or property that the two PCs care about.

With lvl 14 villains vs level 8 PCs it shouldn't be hard to capture them. A couple of easy answers.

Really though, if you're willing to beat them with foes nearly double their level, it's just not very hard.

My big suggestion is to not drag it out. End it fast. Being beaten that handily just isn't fun to play for long.

To be far only the Wizard and assassin will be 14th. The ret will be low-level mooks.

I definitely wont drag it out. The fun is what happens when they're captured. Not that capturing itself.

Even better would be a way to foreshadow Jil and Orbius (Beholder-form) without being so railroad-y.

I like the ice crystal spell Guy.

Thanks for the advice Dave & Foeclan. I'm aware that this is very railroady, and I don't want to get into details, but it isn't an issue. I know my players and they won't be unhappy.

14th level vs 8th level is pretty heavy handed but I'm always pretty amazed at what my players can pull off. I could just kill them which is what any sane 14th level evil guy would do. I am fully prepared to accept the consequences if they manage to escape.

I am not looking for general DM advice. I am looking for tactical advice. Spells, powers, abilities, etc that will help me pull this off. I am not a rookie DM, but I am a Pathfinder rookie. My players know it better then me. I think it's way too OP, but that's what they wanted to play so I'm stuck with it.

Bonus points for making it fun and dramatic.

Are the potential captors good or evil? Part of a government authority or other?

The captors are evil. They are not part of the government authority but in cahoots with it.

I need to capture 2 PC's in my game. A Cleric and a Ranger, both 8th level.

I will be using an assortment of Rogues, Assassins, and possibly a wizard if necessary. All 14ish level. It will occur in a city and probably during the day.

My players are very clever, number crunchy, and definitely OP. They will definitely call me out on any DM fudges/shenanigans. I am worried they will escape and/or kill the kidnappers.

This cannot happen. I need to guarantee this capture.

Any suggestions or tactics?

I need to capture 2 PC's in my game. A Cleric and a Ranger, both 8th level.

I will be using an assortment of Rogues, Assassins, and possibly a wizard if necessary. All 14ish level. It will occur in a city and probably during the day.

My players are very clever, number crunchy, and definitely OP. They will definitely call me out on any DM fudges/shenanigans. I am worried they will escape and/or kill the kidnappers.

This cannot happen. I need to guarantee this capture.

Any suggestions or tactics?

I want to do the Capture of the Shackleborn Character foreshadowing idea as described on the rpgenius pages Here.

I need ideas for how to guarantee this capture. My players are all very number crunchy & OP and I'm worried they will escape. They will definitely call me out if I use any DM fudges.

My plan is to get the party Cleric & Ranger alone and attempt to capture them with Jil, Finch, Last laugh thugs, & possibly Thifirane. Whoever it takes to get this done in a way that they don't escape and none of the major villains die.

The characters will be 8th level when I plan this.

Any suggestions?

Well? How did it go?

You can find Pathfinder conversions for EVERY encounter in this thread here....

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qhr9?Hero-Lab-portfolios#7

Thanks again Alientude!

Honestly, the only thing that is keeping me from doing it is having all of my other players suddenly wanting to rebuild their characters.

I'm running a campaign, and I have a player who wants to repec his 6th level rogue to an Unchained rogue.

How much different are these classes?
Would it be game-breaking?
Should I let him do it?

We continued last night and as usual I completely underestimated the party.

The Cleirc, warpriest and swashbuckler exited the main room with the aid of the obsrucring mist. They had some time to heal up because the whips were doing the same and also waiting for Aushanna. They were desperate for an exit to the river. They peaked into hlamm's room first deciding it wasn't a exit. Then they peaked into the fingerling room and though since there was water there it must lead to an exit. So they went that way. COMPLETELY ingoring the whole brand new crypt (Wraith room) I designed for them. I was also planning they would not go towards Dhorlot. I even printed flopped versions of the maps so that if they happened to choose Dhorlot's path to the west. I would use the flopped version of Hlanamm's room so they would stumble upon Dhorlot during this whole mess. Of course they still managed to do this.
They killed the two Kuo-toa soldiers easily and did there best to avoid the fingerlings. They decided to head up the stairs toward the dragon. And entered into the antechamber.

MEANWHILE....

Once he rogue and the ranger had ran out of the shrine room they decide to hang east and head loop around back through the mummy room. They found the secret door and peaked inside seeing the whips who were busy healing themselves. The obscuring mist was still up. So they it was very easy for them to sneak through the room through the main doors. Not to mention the rogue who is also a goblin is VERY sneaky.(Stealth 31)

Once they were through he peaked in Hlanamm's room and then over to the room with the fingerlings. upon seeing the dead kuo-toa soldiers they decided they were on the right path. They also decided to avoid the fingerlings by jumping over to the stairway. and up they went to regroup with the party.

So now they are all back together again, and completely on their own accord. I even kept the players in separate rooms so they had know idea what the other group was doing.

The rogue found the traps in the antchamber and disarmed them. It was just then that Aushanna was summoned and started to speak to them through telelpathy. They asked her a few question and discovered her purpose. They decide to shut there mouths and heads so she could not "hear" them, then proceeded to walk right into Dhorlot's chamber.

In main campaign Dhorlot is basically a raging ball of libido and he was in the middle of let's just say "dancing with himself" He was completely caught off guard but so was the rogue who had opened the door. He stammered an interesting apology and quickly closed to door, exposing there location to Aushanna. She teleported to the fingerling room and drew her bow. The shit was on! At least I thought it was.

The party fully retreated into Dhorlot's antechamber and shut the door. I was felling cocky so I blipped her into that room and drew her longsword, and that's when the pummeling began.

The cleric had been waiting SOOOOOOOOOO long to cast "Bestow Curse" on someone. She successfully penetrated Aushanna's spell resisitance AND she failed her will save. She granted her the "50% chance of no action each round" curse. THIS WAS EPIC. That spell is crazy awesome. My first round I failed the percentile roll and could do nothing. The swashbuckler hit her twice. He does sick amounts of damage (10-20) because of "precision" damage (f!!@ing Pathfinder) and that's when he doesn't Crit, and he crit TWICE.
The warpriest also managed to get a good hit in.

So now because of seriously bad rolls on my part and some seriously good rolls on the party's part. They have Aushanna trapped in the room down to half her hit points. Of course she will just teleport out, Hopefully avoiding AoO's and regroup.

I was fully expecting to really put the hurt on. I was going into this encounter expecting at least 2-3 characters to die. It's great that they didn't but part of me is a little pissed. They have been cakewalking through this campaign and I was going to take this opportunity to humble them a bit.

What should I do now? Dhorlot is still hanging out just on the other side of the door. Should I have him pop out? Should I have Aushanna round up the priest's or even Dhorlot?

I would like still to route them so they have to go back to town, make better preperations and come back for a more epic battle. On the other hand they are still trapped inside dhorlot's Antechamber, with: 7 whips, 5 soldiers, 3 females, Hlanamm, Mangh-Mitcho, a badly bruised Aushanna and an angry Black Dragon all fully aware of there presence.

So...Kudos to them for successfully regrouping and doing some significant damage to Aushanna, but they are still in an insanely dangerous situation here.

Any thoughts?

That might work well with another idea I got from these boards...

Perhaps Hlanamm does not approve of Zenith's rise to power and sees him as a false prophet. He could be willing to assist the party if the promise to remove him.

And again.. the scary part of this whole encounter is that the part doesn't even know that Aushanna and Mangh-Mictho exist.

I think I need to keep Aushanna in this. My party is going to freak the eff out when she starts talking to them telepathically. I will try to push the deal with the devil arc. They will enjoy that RP.

What I'm leaning towards now. Is providing my players with a bunch of "stuff" to get creative with. Bear with me if you're confused.

I think I will expand the size of the hall of heroes (wraith room) and basically make it a huge complex of catacombs. First of all this will give them plenty of places to hide. Each "grave" will have a stuffed kuot-toa, and a shallow pool of water in front of it as it's "entrance to the afterlife" Egg shells surrounding the pool.

I'm going to put a shrine at the end of the catacombs. With an alter, a decanter of endless water, maybe some other trinkets that could be moderately useful.

There will be an unfinished section of the catacombs that will have piles of dirt and rock. Also some digging/construction tools: shovels, pickaxes, maybe a cart to haul debris, etc.

Hlanamm's rooms will have the workshop where they stuff the kuo-toas so there will be tools for that in a addition to all the other tools that are in those rooms. I can't decide if I'm going to ditch Hlanamn yet.

Up on the outside of the temple. I think I will have Cherrit and White-eye appear. Cherrit will be good, and there for the express purpose of destroying Aushanna or something similar. White-eye will still be evil, but assist them to a point where he can turn on them. They can help the Hunter and rogue.

So by "stuff" I mean a bunch of random crap that my VERY creative players can use to figure out a way to get them selves out of this situation.

Stuff Kuo-toas
lots of tools
lots of debris
small pools of water
Decanter of endless water.
Cherrit
White-eye

Can you guys think of any other "stuff" that might be useful with a lot of creative though. Maybe some more mundane objects and magic items, but not anything that is going to makes this easy for them.

There are so many Aushanna TPK stories on this message board why not add mine?

There hasn't been a TPK yet but realistically it should happen so I'm looking for advice on how to get the party out of this mess.

We are playing Pathfinder and all the monster have been converted via the help of someone on this messageboard.
The party:
Half-Orc Warpriest 6
Human Cleric 6
Human Swashbuckler 6
Elf Hunter 6
Goblin rogue 5 / magus 1

IF YOU ARE ONE OF MY PLAYERS GO AWAY!!!

Through some negotiations/RP gone wrong 7 Kuo-Toa Warriors were left dead and the temple is on alert. Cherrit and White-eye have "escaped.” Garrak the Mummy is also dead.

Fast forward to when the party entered the main shrine room...

They entered through the main doors on the middle level. They didn’t really kick down the door, they were semi-prepared. They knew they were heading towards an encounter because one of the Kuo-Toas escaped through this door to alert the clerics. They cast a few buffs, but they probably could have cast more. The Kuo-Toas imeadiately unleashed a readied lightning bolt.

The cleric, warpriest and swashbuckler managed to get down to the lower level quickly to engage the clerics. While the rogue and hunter attacked the warriors from the middle level with ranged weapons.
I underestimated the lightning bolt, I thought it was going to be weak considering that all four priests use their standard action to cast it. It was pretty effective though. I was able to hit the warpriest and the swashbuckler 3 times as the battle unfolded. The kuo-toa clerics also cast shield of faith and their scrolls of bear’s endurance on themselves.

The party just could not break through the clerics AC’s (31 after buffs), and it took them too long to figure this out, not giving them a chance to try straight spell damage or something similar (wands, etc.) Not to mention their arcane casting abilities are practically non-existent. It started to look grim, and by round 7 they decided to run.

The rogue and the hunter, who were on the middle level, ran through the main doors and toward the exit of the temple. The Kuo-toa Warriors are chasing them. The rogue is fine, but the hunter took quite a bit of damage when the warriors decided to close on him with their spears. (I switched from rapiers to spears, because frogmen with rapiers seemed stupid.) He is down to 10ish HP.

The cleric cast obscuring mist and her, the warpriest, and the swashbuckler all ran through the main doors on the lower level. EWWWW…Bad choice, but there weren’t really any other options. Now they are currently in the part of the dungeon with Hlanamm the spearmaster to the east, Dhorlot to the west and the wraith to the south and NOWHERE else to go. The swashbuckler and the warpriest are down to 10ish hp and the cleric is full. The warpriest opened the door to the wraith chamber and that’s where we left the session.

So the party is split. Rogue and near dead hunter are on the entrance stairway with 5 Koa-toa warriors right behind them. Cleric, near dead warpriest, and near dead swashbuckler are about to walk into the wraith’s chambers.

Being only 7 rounds into combat Aushanna has not even appeared yet. They are only vaguely aware that something is happening because of a glowing point of light they spotted where Aushanna is going to materialize. And of course there is still Mangh-Mictho who is fully armored and full buffed by this time. He was going to make his appearance when Aushanna was completely summoned. If the party had not been spanked by the mooks.

SOOOOOOOO…..

They are kinda screwed. Realistically Aushanna would hunt them down and kill the three in the lower level, probably with the help of Mangh, the priests, and Hlanamm. I’m pretty confident the rogue and the hunter could escape and hide from the warriors. I could also easily argue that since they are out of the temple they are no longer an obligation to Aushanna. So I will softly rule that they are safe. The problem is what to do with the other 3. I am a nice DM. I don’t like to kill characters. I don’t think it’s fun for anyone. But realistically those 3 are goners. So I’m looking for some ideas on how to help them make a dangerous and exciting, but realistic escape.

I have several options available to me:

1. I could write-in an alternate exit, but that's kind of boring

1. I could ditch the wraith and Hlanamm. This would give them a little breathing room to heal up.

2. I could weaken the wraith, perhaps draining a level but making it an easy turn undead for the cleric. (But also the pit trap. Sheesh this dungeon is HELL.)

3. White-eye and Cherrit are still MIA. The rogue freed them from their cells during the first battle with the Kuo-toa warriors. They just ran and escaped. The party did not get a chance to talk to them so they are unaware of any motivations the prisoners might have had. I could even make them good and try to help the rogue and the hunter on a rescue mission.

4. Another idea is that the party could somehow convince Dhorlot to help them. I don’t think Dhorlot is that invested in his alliance with the Kuo-Toa’s other than the breeding program. He might be convinced to help them. It’s a stretch but not impossible.

5. My last idea I got from another Aushanna tale told here. It’s your classic deal with the devil trope. She could negotiate with the 3 trapped characters. If they can destroy the statue of Blibdoolpoolp then she is free from servitude to the Kuo-Toas and she would go away and leave the party alone. The hitch is she STILL IS obligated to kill them per her contract. I can imagine a tense RP exchange between her and the 3 characters discussing the details of this new deal, via telepathy, all the while she is still hunting them down and trying to kill them. HA. BUT…..If they can survive for 10 minutes she will be summoned back to hell and they’ll have a chance to escape and destroy the statue on another foray. She might even reveal this fact to them. The drama is increased by the fact that she is negotiating with 2 good priests and the swashbuckler who, unbeknowest to the rest of the party, is half-celestial. (Aasimar)

PHEW. Any thoughts? My players LOVE dealing with encounters in creative ways other than hack and slash. Especially the swashbuckler and rogue. They love to sneak, crash through windows, jump on the backs of monsters, collapse tunnels, set clever and daring traps. Anything is game with these guys as long as it’s dangerous and exciting. This is actually an ideal situation for them. Lol

It does say that I have to purchase:

Pathfinder Battles—Dungeons Deep: Standard Booster Case

Before I'm eligible to buy the Red Dragon.

Is this true?

I was just wondering if the Gargantuan Red Dragon will come back in print?

http://paizo.com/products/btpy9bep?Pathfinder-Battles-Dungeons-Deep-Gargant uan-Red-Dragon

Cited below are the rules for the Kuo-Toa Whip's lightning bolt ability.

"Lightning Bolt (Su): Two or more kuo-toa clerics (whips) operating together can generate a stroke of lightning every 1d4 rounds. The whips must join hands to launch the bolt but need only remain within 30 feet of one another while it builds. The resulting lightning bolt deals 1d6 points of damage per whip, but a successful Reflex save halves this amount (DC 11 + highest Wisdom modifier among the participating whips + number of whips)."

My question is:
Does this count as a standard action for ALL Kuo-toas involved?
Or can they each release their own lightning bolt?
Or does one Kuo-toa release the bolt, while the others are free to take their own standard actions?

It seems pretty weak if it counts as a standard action for all of them.

Kuo-Toas: http://d20npcs.wikia.com/wiki/Kuo-Toa,_Whip_(Cleric_2),_CR_4

I need a Alchemist/Wizard level 15ish for an NPC in a campaign I'm running.

Is there some place I can go where people will volunteer to build this character for me?

I'm not very good at optimizing and I want her fully optimized for combat.

Details to come if I find someone to do it.

Since we're answering this 3.5 question, the gauth could only aim 2 eye rays per round, the beholder could only aim 3. With no facing, any eye could fire any direction (including the central eye since the beholder could just deride which way to aim it each round).

Not true. A beholder can aim only aim 3 in one particular 90 degree arc. It could use all but one if they were aiming in other directions.

And Thanks Lemmy!

Can a beholder aim it's anti-magic eye forward and still shoot it's rays to the left, right and/or behind?

How about a mini for the Cagewright leader?

Let me know how it plays out KenderKin. I'm ALMOST to chapter 4

Nice Flash, I always enjoy reading other peoples versions of the campaign. I'm going to read through yours.

This is a link to may campaign hosted on Obsidian Portal here.

The transition from chapter 5:Demonskar Legacy to Chapter 6:Test of the Smoking Eye is a little odd and a little vague.

The end of Chapter 5 says the players are stranded in the middle of a desert 500 miles from Cauldron. It offers many suggestions on how to return and states that they should return in order to stop the Redgorge invasion.

The beginning of Chapter 6 places them in that same desert and getting rescued by Kauraphon. Despite the fact that they were supposed to go back and stop the invasion.

How did you other DM's handle this transition?
I plan on using the Redgorge invasion write-up at the rpgenius site.

When did you plan the redgorge invasion?
Did the players stop it?
Before or after The Test of the Smoking Eye?
If before, how did you introduce Kauraphon?

Like I said, the transition is so odd and vague and stilted and railroady.
It's just weird.

Have you been to the rpgenius page? It has a wealth of Information and ideas. Here is the link:

http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/w/page/22143327/FrontPage

In foreshadowing one of the cagewrights my players are already super suspicious of one of the villians and it's only the end of chapter 3. It's kind of disappointing. In their defense I may have gone a little too far with his actions. But what's done is done.

I've considered making the NPC not a villain to surprise them, but I'm not sure. Maybe finding a way to relieve the suspicion somehow?

What have other DM's done in a case like this.

The solar is large also, correct?

So far they are working out great. Pathfinder characters are still OP as hell though. It's a bit annoying. My group didn't want to play 3.5

Oh yeah the Foulspawn hulk is a great one. Is it large? (4 squares)

What did everyone use as a Mini for our beloved BBEG?

We are just finishing up Flood Season and we had the opposite problem. They are getting crushed. I was right about the T-rex. 4d6+20 was just WAY TOO LEATHAL. I nerfed it to 4d6+10 and they still had issues.

The conversions have been working out great though. Thanks again.

I am also interested in how people ran the final confrontation. Anyone?