Rosgakori Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere |
I'll hedge my bet: AHAAAAAAAAAR!
Now it's official. This is on my list of "movies to get inspiration for the Skull & Shackles"! :D
Zaister |
Does anyone else think the title is misleading, considering that
HangarFlying |
Does anyone else think the title is misleading, considering that
** spoiler omitted **
Adam Daigle Director of Narrative |
Looking through the new sea-themed familiars, and I've noticed no mention of what bonuses they give to the masters. Is this an omission, or do they lose that feature in exchange for being Small-sized and / or vermin?
That was an accidental omission. The answer to your query is in this post.
Miranda Silva |
First I'd like to say that the art in this book is amazing. I know I shouldn't be surprised but I can't stop gushing about it. Brilliant once again.
I've just breezed through the book but I read the end game for the AP, and all I can say about the final boss and the aftermath of that battle... wow! Just wow.
Richard Pett Contributor |
DLandonCole RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 |
I'm guessing that Alestorm are the soundtrack for this AP. If you're not familiar with them, have a listen to Captain Morgan's Revenge.
Kradlum |
Picked up The Wormwood Mystery at Orc's Nest yesterday, along with The Isle of Shackles campaign setting and the Ship's Cabins map pack. Printed off the Player's Guide this morning and the Skulls and Shackles Item cards are on their way from Amazon, so I'm well on my way to immersing myself into this adventure path.
I've started reading the adventure path. As others have said, the artwork is glorious! I read a little later into the night just to get to the description of Rosie Cusswell.
Trinite |
Picked up The Wormwood Mystery at Orc's Nest yesterday, along with The Isle of Shackles campaign setting and the Ship's Cabins map pack. Printed off the Player's Guide this morning and the Skulls and Shackles Item cards are on their way from Amazon, so I'm well on my way to immersing myself into this adventure path.
I've started reading the adventure path. As others have said, the artwork is glorious! I read a little later into the night just to get to the description of Rosie Cusswell.
I love Rosie! When I run this, I'm going to have to resist the strong urge to turn her into a GMPC...
JohnF |
Two points:
1) The movie "Pirates!" is in theaters today in the US.
2) Mr. Plugg is shown as having "Heavy Blade" training.
As he fights with a cutlass, this should be "Light Blades".
(assumimg his attack values as shown are correct, if you try
to build his character in Hero Lab the numbers don't match).
DLandonCole RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 |
Robert G. McCreary |
2) Mr. Plugg is shown as having "Heavy Blade" training.
As he fights with a cutlass, this should be "Light Blades".
(assumimg his attack values as shown are correct, if you try
to build his character in Hero Lab the numbers don't match).
A cutlass is statistically identical to a scimitar, and therefore belongs in the heavy blades weapon group.
As far as I can see, his attack values are correct (+5 BAB, +2 Str, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 weapon training, +1 magic = +10, or +8 with a -2 penalty for Two-Weapon Fighting). Since cutlass is a new weapon, perhaps its stats are not yet in HeroLab?
Chris A Jackson Contributor |
Kradlum |
Finished reading this last night. For someone who hasn't been RPGing for 25 years it was a lot to take in, and a revelation. Lots of fun stuff in there but it seems like an awful lot for a GM to manage, and possibly requires players with a certain mindset who really want to roleplay pirates rather than ones who want to hack and slash.
I think I'll be collecting this path and all the extras and then putting it aside for a while until I have some players I can trust to do it justice.
Chris Lambertz |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I don't know if it's been done before, but the option to turn off the map grid and labels in the PDF is brilliant.
Looking forward to running this one :)
Glad you're finding this feature useful! This started in the Jade Regent adventure path and we're looking into what else we can do with it. :)
kevin_video |
I have a question about the Kuru race. What weapons are they using in the picture? Because those most definitely aren't clubs.
And I've only got one thing to say about the Lusca. My god, you actually managed to design Sharktopus. Granted it's got three heads, but still.
One thing I'd love to see is a full write up on Nightclaw. Not so much him though.
Cojonuda |
I have a comment:
The stairs in the Officer's and Capt's room are "off-limits" to the PCs. I am wondering how are they supposed get to the lower decks? Is it through the hatches? Does a magical stair appears?
As of now I had them go down via the stairs in the Cpt's quarter. Those staris are outside the Cpts room.
Comments?
Robert G. McCreary |
This is one of those annoying little things that pop up when you do tie-ins between multiple products.
The best way to solve it is to add a stairway under one of the hatches on the main deck down to area A6. That way the crew can get belowdecks without having to go through the officers' or captain's quarters.
Cthulhudrew |
DLandonCole wrote:Glad you're finding this feature useful! This started in the Jade Regent adventure path and we're looking into what else we can do with it. :)I don't know if it's been done before, but the option to turn off the map grid and labels in the PDF is brilliant.
Looking forward to running this one :)
You could always use try adding some Darklands maps as layers beneath the surface maps that you could turn off and on.
(For an example, check out Denis 'Maldin' Tetreault's Underdark map.)
Erithtotl |
I am taking my group through this, and there are a number of questionable design decisions that I wonder were play tested.
1) The initial 'time on the ship' is set to 20 days. This includes 2 ship actions at a minimum per day per PC (with lots of seemingly pointless DC 10 checks, but with occasional con checks which are quite hard and result in various whippings.) Add in 5 bonus ship actions per pc at the end. Lets make an EXTERMELY conservative guess that a ship action takes 2 minutes of real time to resolve. 20 days x 2 actions +5 x 4 PCs is 180 ship actions!!!! At 2 minutes per action that's 360 minutes or SIX HOURS. And we aren't even counting the actual encounters and events during this time!
I ended up cutting it in half and it was still tedious and dragged over two sessions.
2) Shipwrack Isle or whatever its called: I hope you like monsters with improved grab. Giant frogs, Ankhegs, vine-chokers, giant crabs. All with improved grab. This is a nightmare for PCs with average CMDs (and are 2nd level at this point). Being constantly grappled is NOT FUN.
3) Botfly swarms? Sure, these are CR3, but if the group lacks a character with an AoE spell, they are a TPK waiting to happen. 31 hp? 2d6 damage automatic, IMMUNE TO ALL WEAPONS. Oh, and they give ghoul fever? Basically if the party doesn't have a sorcerer with burning hands, its game over, or they do a lot of un-fun running. I just took them out completely but since they were factored in to get the players up to level 3 for the caves at the end, I had to fudge XP.
I love pirates and was so psyched to run a pirate themed campaign, but I'm definitely going over each adventure going forward and dramatically re-working anything like this I See again, as it is constantly annoying and frustrating my group.
Mazym |
I disagree that piracy as presented in this AP is consistent with good alignments.
KarlBob |
Would Drunken Ki Or Liquid Courage Make The Rum Ration Any Less Dangerous, Or Would They Just Add More Benefits To Go With The Dangers? Do Drinks That Get Converted Into Ki Or Grit Points Still Require Fortitude Saves?
Note: Yes, This Stupid Browser Capitalizes Every Word. I Apologize In Advance For Any Eyestrain It Causes.
Liz Courts Webstore Gninja Minion |
VonSerrng |
Will this ever be reprinted? I was going to buy the series, but this one is not in print. I looked elsewhere and the only copies are on Amazon or other resellers for $88 up to well over $300 for one copy of just this. PDF's are not as useful and thus won't buy the series if that's the only option. Hope this gets reprinted!
Liz Courts Community Manager |
Will this ever be reprinted? I was going to buy the series, but this one is not in print. I looked elsewhere and the only copies are on Amazon or other resellers for $88 up to well over $300 for one copy of just this. PDF's are not as useful and thus won't buy the series if that's the only option. Hope this gets reprinted!
We don't have any plans to reprint the AP at this time.
Robert G. McCreary Senior Developer |
Hope this is the right place for this....
There's an omission in the stat block of one of the new monsters presented--the Tidepool Dragon (pp. 82-83). Does the little fellow have standard treasure or maybe triple like some of his big, bad cousins?
I'd say it should have standard treasure, like its faerie dragon and pseudodragon cousins.
Geflin Graysoul |
If there is anyone considering running this campaign setting be prepared to do the following
(1) Speed up the first part of the book because it starts to bog down.
(2) Be prepared to drastically adjust the content on the island so the CR is appropriate for the level party.
With a few tweaks this can be a fun adventure.
(note: hard to believe this book passed play testing as written)
Captain Brown Bear |
VonSerrng wrote:Will this ever be reprinted? I was going to buy the series, but this one is not in print. I looked elsewhere and the only copies are on Amazon or other resellers for $88 up to well over $300 for one copy of just this. PDF's are not as useful and thus won't buy the series if that's the only option. Hope this gets reprinted!We don't have any plans to reprint the AP at this time.
any plans yet? I would love these as physical copies, but they are going for $100 plus for a few of them not sold here. Maybe a hard cover deal like the Curse of the Crimson Throne?
Cuuniyevo |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Maybe in 16-24 years, Captain Brown Bear. Even if they do continue making the hardcovers, there are 7 other APs between Throne and Shackles, and they don't put one out every year. My experience with modules and AP's is that I use a lot of print-outs, notes and scratch-paper even with the books I own physical copies of, so I wouldn't let the PDF format stop you from getting this one. It's good. =]
Piccolo |
First, absolutely everybody needs a rank in Profession sailor to avoid seasickness checks. Everybody MUST have Climb as a class skill, and have it maxed out at each level. No joke, the DM is told to assign the PC's to whatever job they are worst at, which includes climbing the rigging and falling to their deaths. Quick tip, elves can give up their WPs to get Climb and Swim as class skills.
It is a VERY good idea for everyone to have class access to Swim. Heck, if you can get yourself a Swim speed, that's even better! Our party had an undine in it who gave up all his racial stuff to get blindsense 30ft in water, the ability to breathe underwater, and limited fast healing while in water. This saved his butt repeatedly.
The party desperately needs to have PCs with lots of Charisma to befriend the NPCs! In ours, we had a Cleric with a high Diplomacy and a Wizard using Charm Person and a untrained Charisma check, and they still didn't turn 4 of the crew.
You need to give up your first and third level feats for defensive ones like Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Combat Casting, and in the future Uncanny Concentration would be great. Those first two feats quite literally saved PC lives, no joke, I saw the dice rolls. GMs, replace the wand of magic missile and the wand containing a paladin spell with Cure Light Wounds wands or the party will not make it through part 3 alive. No joke.
If there ever was a book that needed a Rogue (or at least a Ranger with the Vagabond Child urban trait to get Disable Device) and a Cleric, this is it. You need Stealth, Perception, Disable Device, and Escape Artist is recommended as is Acrobatics. Diplomacy, Heal with a high Wisdom, LOTS of healing so those channels are incredibly needed. Our party got by with a Ranger and a Cleric of Besmara, and barely made it.
It would be a good idea for someone to be a follower of Besmara, someone who values Diplomacy and Perception.
Part 3 WILL KICK YOUR BUTTS. You have all of 2 days to complete it, and there's lots of disease, encounters, and such waiting. My group tapped out all of their healing they got throughout the book here, including the half strength CLW wand I had planted. 3 out of the 4 got a severe case of ghoul fever with lots of Constitution damage, and not from the ghouls. If your party does not have an area effect damage dealing spell like Burning Hands ad nauseam, you will die. Really really.
Note that the Hurricane Savvy character trait and Knowledge Geography are great for anyone who is going to be your pilot/navigator in future books. GMs, be dead certain to get Aquatic Adventures and Isles of the Shackles so your PCs can not only handle the need to buy mithril armor in the second book, but also handle the problems of underwater combat and survival.
Now, there are two books that can serve as your second book in the campaign. One of which is Raiders of the Fever Sea, and this one expects you to commit acts of piracy so it's not likely LG characters (and likely not LN) will work out. In it, you will have to make a side trip once your boat is operational to Port Peril to buy mithril armor.
The other book is Plunder & Peril, which doesn't make you become a full ruthless pirate. The down side is that you won't find a city big enough to buy mithril full plate etc in it, and it doesn't look like you will be able to schedule a side trip once the adventures begin. Thus, you will have to wait until the much maligned 3rd book, Tempest Rising, to get to Port Peril to get your armor.
If you want to give the players languages that actually apply to the campaign, check this out https://skullandshacklestheathenianexperience.obsidianportal.com/wikis/lang uages-of-the-shackles