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Um ... you are talking about the AP, right?So now, what can I say ... as Dark_Mistress has mentioned, it is quite pinkish ... very pretty ...Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
That too. ;p
Vic - Ah ok I was just guessing how it would work.
Asg - there is other than the adventure, fiction, bestiary as always. 14 new haunts(roughly I just quickly counted them) and a section on the town this adventure takes place in.
Odd, i have recently subscribed (last week) and have received no e-mail notification yet. Should I break out a brown paper bag to start hyperventilating into or is there some process I'm unaware of?
Just in case i will get the bag out and have it near me.
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So now, what can I say ... as Dark_Mistress has mentioned, it is quite pinkish ... very pretty ...Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
You're wearing pink underwear, Lanx? :O Must resist... must resist... AARGH, I gotta have it!
My faithful imps, daddy has a mission for you!
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Odd, i have recently subscribed (last week) and have received no e-mail notification yet. Should I break out a brown paper bag to start hyperventilating into or is there some process I'm unaware of?
Just in case i will get the bag out and have it near me.
Not yet, it seems to take about 3-4 days from when the first orders start and the last ones go out. I know I have had to wait 3 days before mine was done after people had started to get theirs. With you just subscribing there is likely a good chance you will be at the very back of the line. :(
If you don't get a email by Friday then I would contact customer service and check on it.
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So now, what can I say ... as Dark_Mistress has mentioned, it is quite pinkish ... very pretty ...Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
You're wearing pink underwear, Lanx? :O Must resist... must resist... AARGH, I gotta have it!
My faithful imps, daddy has a mission for you!
Tis true, I bought him a pair of pink lacey thong panties. They might even be in your size Asg. :)
Odd, i have recently subscribed (last week) and have received no e-mail notification yet. Should I break out a brown paper bag to start hyperventilating into or is there some process I'm unaware of?
Just in case i will get the bag out and have it near me.
Not yet, it seems to take about 3-4 days from when the first orders start and the last ones go out. I know I have had to wait 3 days before mine was done after people had started to get theirs. With you just subscribing there is likely a good chance you will be at the very back of the line. :(
If you don't get a email by Friday then I would contact customer service and check on it.
Ok, cool, thanks. I figured there might be some kind of process to it but this is my first subscription to an adventure path.
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Odd, i have recently subscribed (last week) and have received no e-mail notification yet. Should I break out a brown paper bag to start hyperventilating into or is there some process I'm unaware of?
Just in case i will get the bag out and have it near me.
Not yet, it seems to take about 3-4 days from when the first orders start and the last ones go out. I know I have had to wait 3 days before mine was done after people had started to get theirs. With you just subscribing there is likely a good chance you will be at the very back of the line. :(
If you don't get a email by Friday then I would contact customer service and check on it.
Ok, cool, thanks. I figured there might be some kind of process to it but this is my first subscription to an adventure path.
You're Welcome.
Just as a FYI. They are done in lots. By that I mean everyone that ordered the AP would be done in one lot. Everyone that order the AP and Inner Sea Campaign setting would be another lot etc. Then they start with the biggest lot and do all them, then move onto the second biggest lot etc. Till they are done. So if you order extra stuff it tends to push your order back in line. I am guessing that first time subscribers very likely might end up at the end too, but that is me guessing.
On a side note everything I have been saying is just my educated guesses by experience, first hand and seeing other peoples posts. So don't take anything I say as fact. :)
I got my shipment email, and I am now flipping through the pages of the PDF.
It's not fair I tell ya. Us demiliches are better than you robot people. I am going to have to contact customer service about this.
PS:We are also better than non-robot people.
I have question pertaining to Changelings.
The thing that confuses me is the "write up" of the default changeling having stats of Str 10, Dex 9, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 13.
This would seem to imply that the modifiers were intended to be -2 Dex, +2 Int, + 2 Cha, or am I reading too much into the stats?
Thanks for any response.
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And I have a question about the Haunts article.
Got the PDF this afternoon, and on behalf of horror RPG fans, thank you guys!
That sounds cool as hell (way of speak) and I'll surely adapt this adventure to my Ravenloft campaign (it will probably be set in Darkon).
The backstory of this prison is very, very, creepy!
Joël
I'm in the process of reading through but I can say that this is one of the best AP books written so far. It isn't as straightforward as I expected, but I'm really enjoying way too many of these details. Please, keep this up.
The keys. Oh, god. The keys.
The PDF looks great. Some really nice art. Looking forward to the read.
After a quick flip through I noticed no pregen characters. Is this intentional or did they not make it into the PDF (or just my PDF)?
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The PDF looks great. Some really nice art. Looking forward to the read.
After a quick flip through I noticed no pregen characters. Is this intentional or did they not make it into the PDF (or just my PDF)?
Permanent change from here on out for all Pathfinder AP volumes. 2 extra pages of source material vs. the same cut-down biographies and stat blocks that most people never really use.
(The Iconics will still be appearing in sets of 4 for the artwork - this cycle it's Feiya the Witch, Merisiel, Seelah, and Seoni.)
All female iconics for Carrion Crown? That's so awesome.
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All female iconics for Carrion Crown? That's so awesome.
In the adventure it was just them. In some of the support sections there was more of the iconics. If I recall James said the plan was for a all female iconic group for this AP before the iconic's got fired. :)
I have visions of Lem playing on street corners and panhandling now.
Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
Not sure how much your FFLGS (Friendly Finnish Local Gaming Store) has to add due to shipping and stuff, but I've started subscribing from Paizo (using a sock-puppet account for reasons that are long, complicated, and too boring to go into here) rather than buying them from Swedish providers since it's cheaper this way.
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All female iconics for Carrion Crown? That's so awesome.In the adventure it was just them. In some of the support sections there was more of the iconics. If I recall James said the plan was for a all female iconic group for this AP before the iconic's got fired. :)
I have visions of Lem playing on street corners and panhandling now.
If you look at previous cycles, there's always different Iconics for the support articles than the adventures themselves. It's not just new for Carrion Crown.
First who is the artist of the art on page 6? I absolutely love that art.
I'm 90% sure that's Craig Spearing. And yes, it's an amazing piece. The artwork in general bodes well for the rest of the adventure path, I think.
I just got my PDF, and it looks amazing. The artwork is all very good (a definitive improvement compared to Serpent's Skull) and the page layout is very fitting to the gothic/horror theme.
Great work, paizo!
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Not sure how much your FFLGS (Friendly Finnish Local Gaming Store) has to add due to shipping and stuff, but I've started subscribing from Paizo (using a sock-puppet account for reasons that are long, complicated, and too boring to go into here) rather than buying them from Swedish providers since it's cheaper this way.Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
Well, I think they just convert the U.S. prices to euros, i.e. most Paizo modules cost 20 euros (rulebooks 40 or 50). Some of my friends order their stuff directly from Paizo, but I want to support my FLGS, even though at times I feel it's actually the local manga fans who bring the most money in. I guess the real reason is that I enjoy the chance to interact with other gamers (others than those dour guys in my group), which is why I visit my FLGS to chat with the staff.
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Tis true, I bought him a pair of pink lacey thong panties. They might even be in your size Asg. :)So now, what can I say ... as Dark_Mistress has mentioned, it is quite pinkish ... very pretty ...Damn, it's still likely going to be a few weeks before my copy arrives at my FLGS... :(
I want spoilers from subscribers, or else I'm sending my imp squad to steal everyone's underwear!
You're wearing pink underwear, Lanx? :O Must resist... must resist... AARGH, I gotta have it!
My faithful imps, daddy has a mission for you!
Har har, pink lacey thing panties are *always* my size! ;P
I have question pertaining to Changelings.
** spoiler omitted **
They are described as frail so I would think that would lend to the -2 constitution. It seems that the writer gave the changeling the stats they wanted it to have.
This one looks to be very interesting. My group doesn't normally like campaigns that end before 15th level, but I think this one will be appreciated.
PS: The art is really good also.
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And I have a question about the Haunts article.
** spoiler omitted **
Wes provides a glimpse at a couple of the unpublished haunts in today's
blog post! There are lots more where that came from! Maybe I misread my word count commitment. Everybody wins! =-)On another note, regarding high-level haunts, the mechanic gets a little weird at high levels. The base CR for any haunt is spell level+1 (so, 10 maximum), and at that point you're adding modifiers (like persistence and fast reset times) to bump its CR and save DCs, but some of those modifiers don't necessarily equate to more effective or powerful haunts.
However, I found a sneaky little way to toy around with that mechanic at high levels, but you'll have to wait for the debut of Shadows of Gallowspire to see just what I did, as the adventure introduces some creepy new ways to freak PCs out with these enigmatic spirits. Also keep an eye out in Kobold Quarterly for some more contributions and tools for haunts!
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Brandon, James, et al.
I'm still a bit confused about haunts; GMG notes that all "primary effects created by a haunt are mind-affecting fear effects, even those that actually produce physical effects. Immunity to fear grants immunity to a haunt's direct effects, but not to secondary effects that arise as a result of the haunt's attack."
But what about, say, fireball? If a haunt produces it, it's a mind-affecting fear effect... or is it? And a paladin is supposed to be immune to it, right? Well, what about the saving throw; is it always a will save, even against that fireball? Or do I have to succeed at a will save first (even though there's no mechanical effect related to fear), and then at a ref save? And what is the difference between "primary" and "secondary" effects?
Creative Director
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Brandon, James, et al.
I'm still a bit confused about haunts; GMG notes that all "primary effects created by a haunt are mind-affecting fear effects, even those that actually produce physical effects. Immunity to fear grants immunity to a haunt's direct effects, but not to secondary effects that arise as a result of the haunt's attack."
But what about, say, fireball? If a haunt produces it, it's a mind-affecting fear effect... or is it? And a paladin is supposed to be immune to it, right? Well, what about the saving throw; is it always a will save, even against that fireball? Or do I have to succeed at a will save first (even though there's no mechanical effect related to fear), and then at a ref save? And what is the difference between "primary" and "secondary" effects?
Although it's weird... yeah, a haunt that produces a fireball is a mind-affecting fear effect. If that seems weird... well, it's because fireball isn't really an appropriate spell, thematically, for a haunt to trigger. Haunts are more than just numbers and spell effects; they really require some flavor text to go along with them, otherwise they're just traps.
That said, you could certainly rule that the fireball effect triggered by a haunt could be a secondary effect, in which case the fire created isn't a mind-affecting effect at all. But that's starting to blur the lines between a haunt and a plain old trap.
That said, you could certainly rule that the fireball effect triggered by a haunt could be a secondary effect, in which case the fire created isn't a mind-affecting effect at all. But that's starting to blur the lines between a haunt and a plain old trap.
I wonder if you could consider the fireball itself to be a mind-affecting effect that would require a Will save and the heat from it a physical effect for the Reflex save? First you believe that the fireball is real, and then you react against the perceived heat?
Brandon, James, et al.
I'm still a bit confused about haunts; GMG notes that all "primary effects created by a haunt are mind-affecting fear effects, even those that actually produce physical effects. Immunity to fear grants immunity to a haunt's direct effects, but not to secondary effects that arise as a result of the haunt's attack."
*snip*
And what is the difference between "primary" and "secondary" effects?
On the topic of primary versus secondary, I figured I'd throw a few examples in the mix that might help clarify. James is right that a fireball isn't the best flavor choice for a haunt, though if you wanted to replicate a haunted room that suddenly erupts in spectral flames, that might work, though incendiary cloud works better. Keep in mind that the rules themselves also state "how the haunt's effects manifest are left to you to determine," so ultimately the choice is yours -those flames could manifest only in the minds of the PCs (as a primary effect), and unaffected characters might see other party members freaking out over something they can't see, or, you know, they might manifest as very real flames (rule it secondary) that really start burning up the place -something everyone nearby can witness. That's one reason the save DCs are left unspecific as to type, too, but the number are there for you so you can rule them as you see fit.
Telekinesis is a good example. If the haunt trying to pick up a PC and throw them across the room? You'd probably rule that a primary effect. If instead the haunt is picking up nearby furniture and tossing that, then you have yourself a secondary effect, because the furniture itself is quite real.
The Slamming Portal haunt is another good example. The haunt slams a door and holds it shut with a hold portal spell. The haunt is affecting a real door, not the minds of PCs, so the effect is secondary. Even a paladin immune to fear is going to see the door slam -it isn't just happening in his head -and it is going to remain held regardless of any immunities or saves (because this haunt doesn't have one).
On the other hand, the Choking Hands haunt can get a little weird. No save, right? The spectral hands get an attack, so are they a real, quasi-physical manifestation, or are they simple a spectral apparition in the affected PC's mind? I intended the former when I wrote it, but GMs might see it differently (as a mental manifestation), and that's totally OK.
Some haunts, like the Headless Horseman and Spectral Carriage, really are closer to the creature-side of haunts than the trap side, so in my game I'd probably rule their manifestations as secondary, rather than primary. And something like the Fall of the House of Haunts is definitely all secondary -the haunt starts quaking, and that house is really coming down.
So, when using them, consider whether the haunt manifests in the mind only, which makes the most sense with most of the fear-based and truly mind-affecting haunts that use scare or confusion on trespassers, or if the haunt instead manifests a physical effect, like the horrible Gjenganger haunt or the Faeu Boulanger from yesterday's blog post. They're flexible, and written to be used that way.
Does that help? =-)
Well, looks like there's no clarification on the ectoplasmic creatures. So here's what I think it's supposed to be. Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated, as I'm not sure what the intention was here.
** spoiler omitted **
It might be better to post this question in the rules question, and have a couple of posters hit the FAQ button.
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Thanks, Brandon and James! This helped a lot...
I agree, fireball may not be the best choice for a haunt. However, the idea behind "Fireball Haunt" was not that of a ghost that just casts a fireball and vanishes; rather, I had thought of a burning, tormented soul who has died violently in a fire, and manifests as a scary-looking, mad figure engulfed in flames... flames that slowly start spreading around the room to engulf player characters. After reading your posts it actually *does* make sense to make it a Will save; those who fail are paralyzed with fear (taking damage), while a paladin would have time to move aside and avoid the flames completely. And even if it were just all in their heads (which, in my opinion, may be even more horrifying than "real" flames), it would make sense just the same. :)
And thanks for those haunts in the blog; great work there, Brandon! :)
Petros Lorrimor = Peter Lorre. Nice tonal cue for classic film buffs!
Thanks, Brandon and James! This helped a lot...
I agree, fireball may not be the best choice for a haunt. However, the idea behind "Fireball Haunt" was not that of a ghost that just casts a fireball and vanishes; rather, I had thought of a burning, tormented soul who has died violently in a fire, and manifests as a scary-looking, mad figure engulfed in flames... flames that slowly start spreading around the room to engulf player characters.
Thanks!
I'll take your imagery one step further: when the haunt manifests, it replays the psychic residue of those souls who died in the flames, replaying their last final seconds as the flesh melts from their bones. The PCs (on a failed Will save) actually experience the physical and mental anguish of the victims that died in the fire, and see themselves as the scorched, blackened dying as the flames -in full conflagration -roar around them. Just as fast as they appeared, they vanish, yet the blackened skin remains.
Of course, I'm not necessarily saying there isn't already a haunt like this in some later chapter of Carrion Crown. Could be...could be... (!)
Hey -whaddaya know...I CAN write decent haunt flavor when the sun is shining! =-)
Brandon
Got the PDF, read through it yesterday...and absolutely love it. Now I just have to figure out how to speed up my current campaign so I can run it...or maybe get someone else to run it.
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...had a question about this volume's bestiary...
Spoiler:Thing Two: The ectoplasmic template confuses me. First, the sample creature was clearly not built with the rules as written: it has no intelligence score, no bonus Toughness feat, and is N as opposed to CE. Also, the template grants a +2 bonus to strength and charisma, yet in the next line states that ectoplasmic creatures have a charisma of 10. I'm assuming this template went through multiple revisions.
Answer:
For the ectoplasmic creature itself, there were a few errors that unfortunately crept in. Ectoplasmic creatures, as with ALL undead (save, perhaps, some ghosts), are evil. The sample ectoplasmic creature should be chaotic evil, not neutral. As for the other errors, yeah, my guess is that the template itself (which was a tricky one to create) went through some last minute changes and those changes weren't applied to the sample creature... I suspect what's showing through are unmodified human stats.
Now, that said, the stats as presented work fine. They may not be 100% accurate from the template, but they still present a viable CR 1 threat. Change the alignment on the creature to CE and you're good to go, honestly. (For example, if its Toughness feat and Charisma bonus were in play, it'd get a net +4 to its hp; which with 1d8 HD would give it 4.5+4 hit points, or 8 hit points, which is close enough to the listed 9 hit points that no one will really notice.)
So, while the template is indeed somewhat off from where the rules would put it, the template's low CR results in a creature that's pretty much still viable as a CR 1/2 threat anyway.
... creatures, as with ALL undead (save, perhaps, some ghosts), are evil. The sample *********** creature should be chaotic evil, not neutral.
All undead save, perhaps, some ghosts ...
So does this mantra of all undead are Evil (even though the mantra is not actually followed by Paizo published materials) mean that we'll never see anything like the good lich or the baelnorn?
'Tis a shame if it's so.
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The ectoplasmic undead are supposed to be a third variant of the mindless undead, yes.
And the mantra of ALL undead being evil does mean that we'll probably never do a good-aligned lich. Which is also partially because that is very much a Forgotten Realms thing, and I'd rather not mix worlds in that spot.
Now and then, non-evil and non-ghost undead will probably sneak into print, but if it's a non-evil undead and it's not a ghost, chances are VERY good I didn't notice it and bringing it to my attention will make me angry and send me off to punish someone here at Paizo who DID IT WRONG!!!! :-P
3. The hooks, storyline, and general story are excellent. It had me feeling very much for the NPC's in the background and gives me great inspiration to make them come to life for the PC's, and give them real emotion.
I love the sound of the approach you have described Ice Deep. If the PCs get attached to the NPCs - either because they actually care or just because the NPCs feel "real" to them, there's so much more opportunity for atmosphere.
Man, that image of Father Grimburrow is fantastic. I just started reading and the adventure set-up really feels like walking into a classic horror movie. Nice establishment of a feeling of looming dread.