xdahnx's page

Yikes! Sometimes the dice just don't fall in your favour, however, those can sometimes be the most exciting parts of the game.

(Side Note, that Sorcerer will only be getting an armour bonus from either the Mage Armour spell or the Armour they are wearing; armour bonuses don't stack.)

Open PvP and paid beta were known well before(a year) the 2nd kickstarter, guess you weren't that excited... *shrug*

I urge new readers to ignore the above poster's insight into what makes a game developer good, and thank Goblinworks for not making another doomed to fail and go totally free to play 'wow clone' and letting us know their ideas and pick their brain with community interaction 1000x greater than any game to date. If EA couldn't do it... twice... what would make anyone think another big studio is going to make a successful PvP-lite game?

+1

Thanks so much for this! It might be what actually convinces my players to use the Caravan rules!

Hey there,

I just moved to Montreal and I am pretty eager to play with some other pathfinder folks. So far I haven't found anyone willing to respond.

I have about ten years of DMing experience, and the burden of books to back it up.

Shoot me an email xdahnx at gmail.com if you are interested.

Personally, I'm down for either. I haven't played in any PFS games yet. There's not an organized group where I live currently, so I am eager to get involved in any way.

I am moving to Mtl in the new year and am eager to meet some new, experienced players. Shoot me a line at xdahnx at gmail.com if you'd be interested in opening up your gaming circles.

Do the two types of longbow count as different weapons for the purposes of Weapon Focus? I would guess they do, but I want to make sure.

No, they are treated as the same. You can find the rules under the Composite Longbow entry. "For purposes of Weapon Proficiency and similar feats, a composite longbow is treated as if it were a longbow."

xdahnx wrote:

I've received my hard-copy of the book, but I haven't been given access to the pdf yet.

Strange, conside--...ooh shiny...

Are you a subscriber to the RPG line ? That's the only way to get a free PDF.

Ah, that would make sense. I'm not a subscriber, no. Something I need to remedy toute suite!

I've received my hard-copy of the book, but I haven't been given access to the pdf yet.

Strange, conside--...ooh shiny...

Elves can't be paralysed by Ghouls (or Lacedons). It explicitly states that in their monster description: "Special Attacks paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 13, elves are immune to this effect)"

Likewise, my copy of #26 is in pieces. Especially the first half.

Adventure: Sowing their Seeds

Participating NPCs: Vitti (Primary), Fiosa, Gorvio, Rizzardo (Secondary)

Summary: Vitti has been working on cultivating a garden outside the Shrine of Aroden, and in some unclaimed or abandoned plots in the neighbourhood. He produces enough to feed most of the rebels, and donates what he can to the local poor and needy, offering training to those who wish it in tending their own plots. The more viable gardens sustain themselves allowing otherwise unemployed vagrants the ability to eat and carve out a wage for themselves from the cracked earth. Vitti also has access to a a few rare plants that, when properly cultivated, are worth quite a bit on the open market. That money he uses to expand the gardens and fund some of the other activities undertaken by the group. A good deal of it helps support Arael in his potion-crafting. He's been growing what he can based on his limited resources, but his current crops will fetch a meagre amount compared to what he would make if he had access to rarer and more sensitive specimens. He knows where such plants can be found; all manner of forgotten, hybridized, and just plain dangerous plant species can be found in The Ramble Gardens. He tasks the PCs with collecting the seeds, fruits, and cuttings from a list of plants located in that section of Rego Cader. Appropriate Knowledge and Perception checks should help the PCs identify the plants Vitti is seeking. However, an Assassin Vine stands between the PCs and some of their gatherings; the overgrown ruined courtyard of an abandoned vira is the home for an indentured gargoyle, dutifully upholding his end of a magical contract forgotten for centuries.

Scaling: A Shambling Mound scours the overgrown area, hunting for flesh to sate it's alien hunger. Rumours of Giant Flytraps lying in wait for would-be scavengers are becoming more common as well.

I'll go first:

Adventure: The Purloined Press

Participating NPCs: Sclavo (Primary), Amaya, Ermolos, Tarvi (Secondary)

Summary: Sclavo draws the PC's attention to a warehouse in Rego Scripa, not far from Taranik House, that contains a number of abandoned printing presses. They are completely functional, but have been forgotten as a result of governmental beaurocratic shuffling. Additionally, they bear a functional seal of Aroden's Eye, able to mark any printed products as 'official and government sanctioned'. If one of these presses could be secured for the use of the Children of Westcrown, they would be able to distribute tales of good deeds and inspiring words to the masses, powerful writings in these troubled times. Through Sclavo's connections, all necessary supplies for such printings will be taken care of. He's even managed to secure a scroll of Shrink Item to assist in the recovery of the machine; unfortunately, he does not possess the skill necessary to activate it. The warehouse should be mundanely locked and guarded by regular dottari during the day, with a skeleton crew of dottari and some guard dogs in the evening.

Scaling: The warehouse is controlled by Order of the Rack Hellknights rather than the Dottari. They seized the presses from a number of publishing houses thought to be spreading revolutionary propaganda. Those organizations have been disbanded, and as such there are no 'rightful' owners to claim the languishing machines. Guards should be replaced with Hellknights of an appropriate level; Magical locks and wards should be used to increase the difficulty of the encounter as well.

I'm working on a list of short adventure ideas for a number of reasons. I wanted to find a way to get my PCs more involved with the other Children of Westcrown (Loyalists of the Throne in my game), and provide a measure of character and ambition to the other NPCs who have been taking on background roles. It helps to create the sense of a network of compatriots doing what they can within the scope of their abilities, passions and interests. The other 'Children' are members of the community, and they certainly have their ears to the ground while the PCs are questing under it. Additionally, my game has 8 regular players, and the adventure-as-written spreads XP around a little thinly; these adventures help me boost their levels a little in a matter more interesting than sending swarms of Shadows at them every night. I'm interested in what ideas you guys might have in this regard.

These adventures should all further the cause of the Children of Westcrown in some manner; the overall impact of them should be simultaneously minor (so as not to overshadow the efforts of the PCs) and tangible in the community (so as to make them worthwhile to accomplish).

The structure of these adventures suggests that there is a particular NPC 'child' that is the catalyst for the adventure, with a number of others on board for the mission should the PCs look for additional help. Additionally, they should be pretty open in terms of what level the PCs take on the task (with options for scaling to higher levels).
Let's see some of your ideas! Follow the structure or create your own and let's see what we get.

**Additional ideas: These adventures can have some far-reaching implications for the fame and reputation of the Children of Westcrown; consider offerring a Fame Point for the completion of one (or two for easier missions). For a change of pace, or if the PCs decide they are too busy to help with such tasks, if any of these NPCs have gained class levels from experience or mentorship (as suggested in Pathfinder #25) consider distributing their character sheets to your players for a night or part of your game session, and have them take up the roles to run these missions, using the suggested NPCs. My players often complained about 'how useless' these NPCs were; putting my players in their shoes helped gather a little more respect for them, and it meant that the PCs did not have to take time off from their own adventures to help with such minor concerns.

Adventure:
Participating NPCs:
Summary:
Scaling:

####

There's also the 'Elven Flesh Golem', in Second Darkeness with four arms wielding and firing two longbows per round.

It follows the regular stats for a Flesh Golem, save that it uses this ranged attack in favour of a slam.

EDIT: @d20pfsrd
A Non-Proficiency penalty would not be appropriate for the daggers, because they are indeed proficient with simple weapons.

Running two iterations of the adventure; Currently we have:

Grankoa, CG Male Half-Orc Barbarian 2
Deacon, LG Male Human Fighter 3
Christopher, NG Male Human Celestial Sorcerer 3
Treely/'Trunket', NG Male Gnome Druid 3
Drumbar, LG Male Dwarf Paladin of Torag 2 [DECEASED]
This group has just finished taking out the Bastards of Erebus.

and

Maeve,N Female Elf Druid 1
Downey, CN Male Halfling Rogue 1
Sigil, LN Male Div-Spawn Tiefling Rogue 2
Gin, N Female Chelaxian Half-Elf Ranger 2
Reda, CG Female Chelaxian Half-Elf Water-Elemental Sorcerer 2
Firenze/'Enzo', CG Male Old Human (Kellid) Cleric of Gorum 1
Thokk, CG Male Half-Orc Barbarian 2
This group has just finished rescuing Arael and have completed a few sidequests. They are a powerhouse. During the ambush, the ranger killed Shanwen with a single arrow while he was still driving the prison-caravan. The remaining Hellknights didn't know how to react when the rest of the rebels sprung from the woods, cut the horses free, and FLIPPED OVER THE CARAVAN ONTO THE BRIDGE.

Name:Drumbar Gonrin IV
Race:Dwarf
Classes/levels:Paladin 2
Adventure: The Bastards of Erebus
Location: Old Temple to Erasil, underground level
Catalyst: Abandoning any hope of stealth or surprise
The Gory Details: The slow penetrating exploration of a rot grub

Hey everyone,

I'm running two iterations of CoT right now; we're not far into the story by any means. My one group has been pretty RP heavy, and have spent several weeks with the other members of the Children of Westcrown. They've taken a number of them under their wing, and have formed close relationships with most of them. They've helped to outfit the other rebels with gear, and made some minor renovations on the old temple to make it a better place to stay and train.

Catching wind of the bandit group calling themselves the 'Bastards of Erebus', they decided it was time to act as heroes and rid Westcrown of these fiends before they harmed any others.

They decided against bringing any of the untrained rebels with them on this mission, and opted to take only Janiven as accompaniment.

They weren't particularly stealthy in their engagement of the tieflings, and a full scale assault in section 10 ensued (a wounded Ostenso, Vethamer, Dravano, Palaveen, and 7 tiefling rogues stood against a handful of humans with poor light sources). One character charged into this mess despite the warnings of his comrades, and he was promptly knocked unconscious. Seeing the mass of cackling tieflings advance upon them, the rest of the party fled, their hearts heavy with loss. Janiven was quite emotional on the way home. Arael stormed out into the night when he heard the news. Many of the other 'Children' are now second-guessing what it means to be a champion of the people.

Here comes the hard part; in the night, Palaveen had the 'mummies' use their magic (Charm Person + opposed Charisma checks) to fish information out of the captured PC. (Who did a great job roleplaying being tied up and interrogated with enchantment, by the way). However, now the Bastards know all about the Children of Westcrown, their member base, and all about their headquarters in the abandoned temple of Aroden. I don't imagine it will be too long before they come to pay a visit to the 'Children'.

How do I play it out from here? What would Palaveen do with that kind of information?

I think it's possible that the Bastards will still be slightly reeling from the damage dealt to their hideout before the major confrontation, and will be too busy to confront the PCs for a few days (giving them time to act). It's also possible that they stage an all-out assault against the 'Children', in which case I have an interesting battle ahead of me.

The other option is that the PCs decide to temporarily disband the rebel group, and lay low. Or move the operation elsewhere; where would some other suitable places in Westcrown be found?

Hmm, I don't think it was a weak move on my part. Doing non-lethal damage is certainly within the power of the Shocker Lizards, and at those numbers, still serious.

Also, considering their current strength level (all are missing at least some CON from the stirges, the wizard threw a lot of spells at the GC, the cleric's channeled plenty) this is still a shitty place to be in. Add to that the need to press on in order to find the children, and it's still a huge penalty to them (for metagaming) without wiping them off the map.

As I said, they're newer players and they'll certainly approach further encounters a little differently from now on. Lesson learned, for sure.

I'm just a little worried about how they are going to take out the kobold king from here....

I think we'll run the new AP if they die....Got the PDF today! Delicious.

I love tuesdays.

Ah, the report finally surfaces:

A quick breakdown of the party structure and history;
Logan, LE Human Male Monk 2
Erasmus, LN Human Male Illusionist 2
Kevlin, CN Gnome Male Bard 1/Rogue 1
Yama, CN Human Female Ranger 2
Dard, CN Half-Elf Male Cleric of Calistria 2

To be fair, the party doesn't even really care about the children. They are interested in adventuring, and making a name for themselves in and around Falcon's Hollow as a reflection of power. They care little about the town; we ran D0 Hollow's Last Hope, and upon gathering the ingredients for the cure and allowing Laurel to synthesize it for distribution, Logan choked the life out of her. They proceded to shove her in a barrel in the basement of Roots and Remedies, fill it with vinegar and seal it up. She's still pickling down there. With ample use of Disguise-based magic, they impersonated her and distributed the remedy themselves, making a decent profit off of it. A nasty lot.

Yama splits her time between being a trail-guide and a bounty-hunter for the Lumber Consortium. She reports directly to Varmos Harg, who has charged her with finding Kreed's kid. He blames the group, and Yama, for filling the children's head with stories of adventure north of the town. Her skills are useful, and the group responds well to the promise of coin as reward.

But they've heard a number of stories of their own. Hearing the frightened kobolds invoke the name of Glintaxe had them poke around a bit in town, where they learned more of the tale of the Dwarf's misadventure. It consumed them. They spent several sessions planning the demise of Glintaxe. Defeating a legend is worth a legend of your own, after all.

Entering the second level of Droskar's Crag, they happened upon some mining kobolds and their guards. They effortlessly dispatched all of these kobolds, caring little for their pleas of help or mercy. The ranger used her skills to determine which paths from this first room would lead them to Glintaxe, analyzing the movements of the kobolds' footprints. Heading west, they scouted the long corridor and were rewarded when they spied a shimmering suit of armour slowly shambling down the hall. They were about to engage it when they second-guessed themselves and fled into the nearest room, locking the door behind them.

Of course, all this commotion attracted the attention of the five stirges nesting in this room. They quickly set upon the party and drained most of their blood before buzzing off through a crack in the ceiling to nest. (they have an impressive racial bonus to grapple. Yikes!)

They exited the room and came face-to-face with the ghostly form of the deceased dwarf (at which point they retreated back into the room to regroup and come up with a plan). The ranger was first to leap into the corridor, using her mobility to stay away from the unholy creature. Her arrows sizzled before they reached the armour of the dwarf (and she rolled a 1 on her knowledge: dungeoneering check), leaving her dumbfounded and terrified (both the player and the character). Erasmus was next, using the other door to exit on the other side of the corridor, flanking Glintaxe. He unleashed a Magic Missile against the thing, and saw it merely illuminate the corridor as it collided several feet in front of the armour. Confused, he began to hurriedly flip through his collection of scrolls for a solution.

The Cleric, (who made the whole table chuckle everytime initiative was called and so changed his name quickly thereafter) tried to recall some lore on Ghosts. He shared what he knew about such foul creatures, and none of it seemed to fit with what they were experiencing. Desperate to drive off this undead menace, he Channeled Energy to drive the creature back. It was ineffectual (and the player blamed it on his 7 charisma. I didn't reveal that it actually healed the Gelatinous cube somewhat).

It wasn't until the next round, where Erasmus approached the hovering suit of armour and released a gout of flame from his hands, that the party saw the cube illuminated and quivering in pain. Kevlin, who had been hiding in the stirge room the whole time with Jeva and the fox, emerged and related some information that he had heard in passing of such hungry oozes.

The Gelatinous Cube responded to Erasmus in kind, swallowing the poor wizard whole. Logan leaped into the fray, punching his way to the sizzling form of the illusionist. He managed to wrench Erasmus free of the cube, and the party used their mobility to make short work of the cube after that.

The next room the party explored contained the peaceful and mostly dormant shocker lizards. (Which the party antagonized for no reason, and brought everyone except Logan to ~-20hp. Jaws dropped and my players protested: “I have never seen anything in a dungeon that wasn't hostile and not meant for me to fight.” I chalked it up to a learning experience and retconned the damage into non-lethal; they were dragged away by the monk as the lizards yipped in annoyance)

I like your idea of wedding, Set. It's kinda like a test-drive that way. You don't have to go through all the fuss of a wedding if it's not going to work out anyway.

;)

In terms of pacing, yeah I'm a shit. My work just picked up like crazy. I feel like I won't be able to update every day, but within the week I'll continue to update.

Regarding the arena fight, it didn't involve Bex, but rather involved Rob. Difficult to explain, but if anyone would like to sign up for a match, there's definitely room for that.

Typing update....now....

What if you made it a cursed item? Like, the item itself demanded attention? An hour each day or something? Or perhaps it's an image of someone that demands to be remembered

Perhaps it's a locket or something, containing an image of a long-dead aristocrat or something who just longed to be adored.

An excuse for this lich's pursuit into immortality as well. "must...have...more...time....to....find....out...who...this...woman...is!"
You could have his lair adorned with supplementary useless items as a result of this obsession. Countless books of genealogy, heraldry. A box of miscellaneous signet rings. An overflowing desk covered in brittle letters; forgotten and banal aristocratic correspondence threatening to turn to dust.

Thanks so much for your patience guys. I know that i've let you down once already with this game.

I don't want it to die! You're close to getting close to the Baron...

;)

Jon had some fantastic posts, as well. I'd like to do them justice by not rushing either. I love this group. Especially the tension between the polarized warriors of Gorum

Hey, I didn't realize there were so many folks so local-like.

I don't live in Toronto proper, but am there at least once a week or so for school.

I'd love to get in on some face-to-face gaming with you folks.

I'll send Jason an email regarding this as well!

Writing furiously in WORD so as not to lose the post. Don't lose hope. Today's my day off.

Sorry for those of you who though this was going to be a 'how-to', it's more of a 'how do?'

My players, mostly new to DnD, have played through D0, Hollow's Last Hope, made a bit of a name for themselves in town, and have a bard in the party. They've certainly heard the Ballad of Glintaxe a number of times.

When the party defeated Graypelt, I even used some frightened miner kobolds running up the stairs to get away from 'Glintaxe' to prevent merging of the module with D1, Crown of the Kobold King. Terrified themselves, they followed the kobolds' lead and high-tailed it out of there to prepare.

Long story short, all they know of what is below the top level of the dwarven monastery is this 'Glintaxe'. They've spent the last three or four sessions planning between themselves how to take out a 'ghost'. The cleric has prepared only 'undead-related' spells. The wizard's stocked up on magic missile scrolls. He's excited to use his 'channel energy' ability against the thing.

As I've mentioned, they're new to the game, and so have never fought a ghost. Likewise, they've never fought a Gelatinous Cube, either.

We game tonight, having left the game on 'pause' at the top of the stairs.

How do I make them not KILL ME after the jig is up? How did your parties handle it? I'll give a full report later.

I've just had a very bad week, is all.

My mind has not been on DnD.

Scriptak will get his introduction after the group scouts out the mission, but before you head to zincher's arena. Maybe Mordecai will get to try out his new scimitar sooner rather than later...

Just a quick post to say that I'm not dead, tho I feel close to it.

I'll be giving y'all an update (or several) soon!

Just a quick post to say that I'm not dead, tho I feel close to it.

I'll be giving y'all an update (or several) soon!

Aww, it'll be fine guys! As I understood it, this was just a plan to become more intimate with the town and it's defenses anyway! Tomorrow's another day!

Hey Pae! Welcome back to you, too! We're getting the band back together, as it were.

I wasn't sure if you were up for joining us again. I really did not want this game to die, and so I'm glad (and surprised) that everyone is back and eager!

If andrea can't sort herself out of this predicament, Rose will be there in a few rounds to gather her anyway.

Then we will resume our regular time-line.

I'm really excited about this game! I have been for some time, and I'm sorry that we had to take a break from it for so long. I think we've got a couple promising new characters to bring into the story.

And there's definitely lots going on; Sure there's creepy Marzielle, and what's going on with Mel? Bex has a plan, that doesn't sound good. Ozbadin is rounding up layabouts, and you've got two arena shows lined up. I think things just got a whole lot more interesting.

KC, you still have 4 more 1st level spells to 'know'. No pressure on choosing them now, I just don't want you to lose out on the versatility that makes the archivist work. I would also be willing to provide you with the custom trait that someone mentioned above; you cast spells from scrolls that other people have scribed at +1CL. Additionally, have you given any thought to where Scrip might be hanging out right now? In the alley behind a bookstore? Searching through the garbage at the temple? Have you made friends or 'business relation' with Hyram?

Archivists operate on the same mechanic as the wizard; they can cast a few spells per day that they choose and prepare each morning from a 'prayer(/spell) book". As they level up, they add two new cleric spells to their book, but if they encounter any other divine writings or scrolls (esp druid ones) they can add them to their own prayerbook, just like a wizard could. It's all under Prayerbook, page 83 in heroes of horror.

Cool. Scrip looks good to me (and very fragile!).
A couple things: You don't suffer any spell failure chance because you are casting divine spells. Secondly, could you differentiate between your 'Known Spells' and your 'Prepared Spells'? You have the correct amount prepared, but I don't see a list of what you know (should be all 0-level Cleric spells, and 7 1st-level Cleric spells).

Otherwise, especially concerning Knowledge checks, you're one of the smartest in the group! Too bad you're a goblin...

No pressure! Please don't take it as me rushing you! Take as much time as you need, and we'll scoot you in hassle free. I mean, goblins don't really take up that much space at all; we should be able to slide you in anywhere!

Last Call!

{hey rev, I thought you weren't playing Ang-y)

=D

Well, it's officially started up again. Dank, it's your time to shine. (please don't die here).

I'll introduce Scriptak as soon as KC gets a little more work done on him, but I definitely thought about him all night. I may steal the concept for a character of my own someday.

Don't forget that most of you are headed to Zincher's arena tonight! I'd like to make it 'all' of you, but I don't want to force it. Let's see how things develop.

Sounds like a good idea to me, Nathan. There's a perfect opportunity to get involved just around the corner...

I'm going to wait a little longer to get things fully up and running, but I'll have posts for each of your characters soon!

Rev, I'm sure I could optimize him a bit more, and make him slightly more effective. He is the highest level member of the party after all....It just screams against his character for him to be too successful. He was created, originally, to be a failure. (although in my tabletop version of the game, he got away with the loot...)

With Taldane-as-Common, both is fine.

Scriptak is a great name for an archivist, by the way. I just gave it another lookover (while my partner scolds me; "Ugh! I just put all your DnD books away!") and it seems fine to me.

I could easily imagine Scriptak spending a big chunk of his day 'dumpster diving' throughout the city, scrounging for bits of written notes here and there. A good way to get into trouble with the city law. Sounds like you and Dank are gonna get along just fine.

I missed you guys!

=D

edit: Dank looks good! I can picture him in his many-hided garments. He's gonna be a tough one, jeez. But the Goblin may need just a person...

Why does everybody keep saying 'pigeonhole'?! ;)

Because Goblins are the most likely thing to be found in a pigeon-hole? They can fit easily enough on the way in, and pigeons are tasty! The way out is a different story.

As for domains/school powers; Angvar has the same power as Mordecai, except wizard flavoured. I'd like to see the two of them go at it, neither of them flexing a muscle, weapons flying through the air. Until a Swamp Barracuda devours them both...

I think a goblin archivist would be a really interesting idea, especially if you follow Set's line of thought; his 'prayer book' would not be a calculated, orderly, dissertation of faith and magic, but rather enough random scribblings and collections of written odds and ends, scrolls, etc the sum of which collects into a usable and potent source of power. Goblin superstition is re-inforced, if a little misguided.

Sounds like a fun one to me.

Rev, don't sweat it. You know you'll miss him. Jump back in whenever you want.

No worries, I'm not trying to pigeon-hole you or anything; feel free to keep tossing ideas around.

Don't forget to check out the beginning of this thread for the rules concerning character creation in this game!

Sounds good to me, both of you. Nathan, if you can answer a number of the same questions as I posed to KC above it'll make integration a little better; basically, what is the reason for you being in this shady town?

KC, are you sure you want to play a Spirit Shaman? The intelligence-focus and the wizard training more believable point to levels of wizard instead; Spirit Shaman is a Wisdom and Charisma based class.

KC
Spirit Shaman would be fine, if you'd like to do the necessary conversions, and if you don't think it's too underpowered considering the changes since Pathfinder.

Additionally, the Goblin thing is a bit of a handicap, especially considering the tribal qualities of the spirit shaman. What tribe are you associated with? Why are you separate from it? What brings you to Riddleport? Who do you have contacts with in this town? Where are you staying, etc etc.

A Goblin/Kobold Spirit Shaman would be fine with me if you can somehow make it work!

Rev
Don't feel obligated to take on Angvar; I know you've got a lot on your plate right now. You certainly played him well, however, and it does seem that Strange Loops isn't going to start up again (esp. considering the original loss of the twins. Oh well).