No feats. You get that for free.
then the rule is absolutely broken. As much as the metal items you touch with it.
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then the rule is absolutely broken. As much as the metal items you touch with it.No feats. You get that for free.
Yes and no. In this campaign it most definitely is. However, the majority of the people your heroes tend to take on are thugs that usually wear leather or studded leather. You might even come across the occasional evil druid in wood. In those campaigns it definitely wouldn't be broken. It's all about location.
Isn't that extremelly powerful? How much feats does it cost to him? I mean, the ability to give the broken condition to a full plate with a touch attack is not something a PC should get for free, isn't it? It's way more powerful than Improved Sunder.No feats. You get that for free.
Actually, re-read it. You do give the broken condition to everything you touch. Temporarily. You give away your curse for a small time, and put it on others. Thus they gain the broken condition on all of their items.It doesn't work that way. You give the Broken condition to stuff that you wear or "use", not stuff that you just touch.
Doug M.
I think you need to re-read it, Kevin.
Wrecker Curse "Held objects gain the broken condition when you use or equip them but regain their actual condition if employed by anyone else."
The only thing it says you can destroy just by touching it is non-magical traps.
dunebugg,
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying Mike's art. If you go to our facebook page, you can see a lot more of it.
We're also doing a kickstarter where his art is being highlighted on a deck of playing cards.
Regardless, thanks for purchasing "Way of the Wicked"!
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
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I think you need to re-read it, Kevin.
Wrecker Curse "Held objects gain the broken condition when you use or equip them but regain their actual condition if employed by anyone else."
The only thing it says you can destroy just by touching it is non-magical traps.
I love the English language. Same spelling for two words. Mine was meant to say "re-read it" as in "re-red it".
This is all I've found so far. I'm getting him to e-mail me the exact details of what he found if it's any different.
At 15th level, whenever you are dealt damage by an attack with a manufactured weapon, you can require the weapon’s wielder to make a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your oracle level + your Charisma modifier) to avoid having the weapon collapse into dust immediately after striking you (magical weapons receive an additional saving throw against this effect).
EDIT: The above AND a 2nd level Oracle Spell called Oracle's Burden. It's a Will save and SR applies.
I'm running this as a PC and I'm loving every evil moment.
We're currently in Book 2 and are getting ready for the grind, but it's so much fun... thanks for giving the good monsters a chance to not just be NPCs... the deadliness of the monsters are great.
We've been through 4 PCs already, though mine and the alchmist have survived, and have definatly gone outside the lines, but every time I ask if we broke it my DM smiles and says nope they have a contingency for that. Can't wait to to see how this ends, though I can't buy them myself until after I'm done playing them, count the next AP you're putting out "subscribed".
The Chozyn,
I'm glad you're enjoying "Way of the Wicked". Sounds like you're playing with a particularly vicious GM.
But regardless I'm glad you're having a good time. "Throne of Night" will be here before you know it.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
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Doug,
You hit it on the nose. It is interesting to see what different people ignore, emphasize, and expand upon.
But the real thing that always strikes me as clever and cool is not what the GMs do. Its how the players look at a problem and devise some ingenious, wicked, and off-the-cuff solution I would never have dreamed of.
In one of the games a PC is going through playing a lesser devil. Wow. I never even considered that possibility. What a neat roleplaying experience.
In another game I've watched (I can't remember if this on paizo.com) one group made it out of the prison without spilling a single drop of blood by bluffing and forgery.
In another game, the PCs ...
...decreased the defense of Balentyne by arriving as exhausted king's messengers with a fake message that declared that Farholde was being overrun by frost giants and that all available men were to be sent to reinforce the garrison their. They got half the men and two of the officers to sail off on a wild goose chase with that one.
If want to know the reason the PbP hold my interest, that' it.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
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One of the things I'm doing for my game is a white board with the main quest identified, along with any side quests they have picked up or heard about and anything they want to keep track of.
I think when we hit Balentyne it should be interesting to see what rumors they get and what they decide are the priorities for weakening the defenses.
It does also keep them slightly focused on what the 'big goal' is. :)
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Doug,
You hit it on the nose. It is interesting to see what different people ignore, emphasize, and expand upon.
But the real thing that always strikes me as clever and cool is not what the GMs do. Its how the players look at a problem and devise some ingenious, wicked, and off-the-cuff solution I would never have dreamed of.
In one of the games a PC is going through playing a lesser devil. Wow. I never even considered that possibility. What a neat roleplaying experience.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
Yeah, I saw that lesser devil idea and I so wanted to pinch it for my game... unfortunately the PCs had already rolled up their toons... maybe I'll run it again for a different group... or better... convince another DM to let me play it in his game! :)
My PC is a Gladiator and has used his acting ability to get passed a few of the things in Book 1.
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Want people's opinions. I was inspired by Gary reading a pbp about the frost giants. I'm putting this out simply because I unfortunately couldn't find a module that already dealt with this kind of thing. If there is, I'd love to get pointed towards it. Otherwise, this is the homebrew solution I came up with.
I was thinking of having the hidden island located 100 miles East of Seal Isle. While talking to the Yutak tribe, they swap legendary stories of each other's culture. That's when they learn about the cave of the sleeping frost giants. They could use them to their advantage. For rescuing them and waking them up from their centuries long slumber, they can lay waste to the town where their jailer lived -- Balentyne. That might satisfy them.
However, the trek won't be that easy. They'll have to discover the island from the legend lore's clues, brave the rapids around the coral reefs, and enter the cave that's in the middle of a constant blizzard. But even inside is a peril waiting for them.
The wizard knew that he wouldn't survive forever, and left in charge of the cave, a single ice mephit, Rime. He was the wizard's improved familiar. Should anyone actually manage to free the frost giants, or at the very least get close to pulling it off, the ice mephit was to immediately contact the wizard's current heir, Rhodulus the Ironic, a NG arctic elf fire elementalist wizard.
Rhodulus never thought it actually possible to get called so he slacked in his studies, and was fairly adamant with shirking his responsibilities, unless it was that to a fair maiden. However, he did manage to become powerful enough for Rime to continue on as his familiar like he had with his grandfather.
As lazy as Rhodulus was, he wasn't stupid. On the off chance that the frost giants ever did wake up, he had readied a wand of wall of fire and scroll of teleport just in case. No one will be more shocked than him though when he's summoned to the ice cave.
Rhodulus will be at a level appropriate to that of the PCs, but no lower then 7th level so Rime can be his familiar. He'll come with his friends: Sheryl, a CG female half-elf bard; and Tabitha, a NG female catfolk (cat's claws) companion bond ranger (natural CS and FE giant +2). They're both two levels lower than Rhodulus.
With the opposition dealt with the party can finally deal with the riddle. How do you wake up the frost giants? The riddle talks about sleeping until the new dawn breaks and the aroma of aromatic spirits fills their nostrils.
What this means is that the party has to find someway to shed some light into the cave, over the giants, and have each one of them inhale smelling salts. If the PCs look around and make a DC 20 Knowledge (engineering) check, they'll notice that an ice wall doesn't quite look like the rest of the walls. It's a magical shaping transmutation by the previous wizard. It covers the original window that let in light. The PCs will need to destroy this by whatever means they can pull off.
Taane-Thak is a frost giant/sorcerer 2. Her and her crew, while they aren't fond of it, will agree that the PCs did save them, and will work for them for a price. If the PCs introduce them to Thorn, he'll recruit them and eventually he'll gain the king and queen for Book 5's write-up.
For their first order of business, they are to take out Balentyne. This allows the PCs to go to their next destination, Mathyrn, and get them to send a majority of their troops to help fight the giants, leaving the wall mostly unguarded with but a skeleton crew.
So, what do you guys think? Note that I'm writing this at almost 4 AM because inspiration struck me, so I'm not sure how coherent this reads.
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Dedicated to Gary McBride and our GM Doug, I am posting this here but I'm trying to avoid spoilers (above) so I won't be responding for a bit.
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Very cool. I think you might be the first person, Kate, inspired to write in-character poetry for any of my RPG products.
Glad you're enjoying "Way of the Wicked". I didn't write this, but I feel this poetry is appropriate:
Three times I had the lust to kill,
To clutch a throat so young and fair,
And squeeze with all my might until
No breath of being lingered there.
Three times I drove the demon out,
Though on my brow was evil sweat. . . .
And yet I know beyond a doubt
He’ll get me yet, he’ll get me yet.
-- Robert Service, "A Hero"
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
Creepy poem, and appropriate to this adventure path.
And thanks for the five star review, Kate!
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
*struts around like a bawss*
I'm definitely enjoying playing Mi'Dre. I love weird, outside the norm style characters, so the chance to play a devil is a lot of fun, and is encouraging me to be a bit more gruesome than I normally would :p
He has every reason to be afraid of Tiadora too :p It wouldn't have worked anyway now I know what she is, but that was a bad time to roll a nat one.
Mi'Dre's infernal strut is somewhat mitigated by his current guise as a human child... :P
A very creepy human child :D But yes, I figured they'd know who I am since they claim to have read the PbPs
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Hey Gary,
Just wanted to pop in and say that I've gotten a group together and we've been running through the path with nothing slowing us down. Its the adventure path me and my friends have always wanted to play but couldn't figure out a way to properly run without it all falling to pieces. (One of my players is a strangely large fan of Asmodeus and devils in general, so he's beyond thrilled.)
My players are:
Male LE Human Wizard Conjurer (Going for Diabolist)
Female NE Tiefling Cleric of Apollyon
Male LE Half Orc Anti-Paladin
Male NE Fetchling Infernal Sorcerer
I will keep little updates about what the groups up to throughout the adventure. Thanks again for the great product!
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@ Revenantdog -- With regards to your spoiler stuff on the tiefling, go for it. When Grumblejack gets his boost, give the tiefling hers too. I'm considering doing it for my players if they get behind too much on XP.
Is there something wrong with the 6 pdf subscription option on drivethrurpg.com?
Don't think so. Mine's working fine.
Justin,
If you continue to have any problem with this, don't hesitate to email me at gary at firemountaingames dot com and I will also look into it.
We definitely want you to be able to give us your money. :)
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
Revenant Dog,
Sounds like a great group. Please, keep us informed about how your campaign is going!
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
Hi Gary,
I would like to run this campaign with 6 Players.
How can I fix it?
Thx
I'm running it with six. I made the following changes:
** spoiler omitted **
This seemed a little more interesting to me than "just increase all monster numbers by 50%, or give them another hit die/level."
Doug M.
Thank you Douglas Muir 406, great Tips indeed for this 1st AP
Maybe another way is to opting for "point buy method" (Standard Fantasy)?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/character-creation
I know is not a funny way to create characters....
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During most of the first book, the players will be
We've finished this book last sunday, and it's been a great ride.
Nice.
We love playing evil guys. I love running this - the book has exactly enough information for me to just read it once and run the game. What a relief! I can focus almost all my prep time on making props and battlemaps and background music, and that's what I like to do most and get to do least. Awesome.
I've been playing this in a group and we're having a blast!
Our DM has us roll 2d6+8 for attributes (rolling two matrix's taking the higher of the two). Needless to say we have powerful characters (which is awesome as I/we enjoy optimizing our characters). Speaking of characters our group consists of the following (7 players all veterans):
Human summoner
Human fey bloodlines sorcerer
Human draconic blooded sorcerer
Dwarf cleric
Gnome rogue
Asimar monk (taking the vamp feats at lvl1,3,5,7,9)
and my character:
"Angel-Blooded" Asamir, Dark Lord (archtype) antipaladin (also taking the vamp feats at lvl1,3,5,7,9).
We all worship the big A except for the rogue who signed on for vengeance and eventual riches.
Should I survive, my build will be:
Dark Lord 4/Magister 1/Dragon Disciple 8/Eldritch knight 7.
I'll get my STR to 40 at lvl 16 (read I use 2handed weapons and will power attack all the time when I get the feat) and my CHA to 28 (+9) by lvl 9 (I get Cha to HP and Saves, as well as for smite good).
At the moment (lvl4) my stats are:
Str21
Dex16
Con11
Int16
Wis11
Cha18
At lvl 20 I'll have:
17bab
Spells cast per day as a 13th lvl Magister (read 1-6th lvl spells)
CL of 19 (with the trait and feat that boost caster level)
No ASF in light armor due to Magister(which is good as my Dex will be high, something mithral or celestial armor will be my ideal armor)
All the undead awesome from the vamp template.
Basically a smogas bord of great defensive and offensive abilities with out going into too much more detail.
As far as how we've done so far..
In the prison we used stealth,bluff and took the guards one or two at a time. We freed Grumble jack but fearing he was too clumsy we kept him guarding the cafeteria as we went to the other guard locations taking them out. The most we faced at a time was 4 when we fought the warden. He knocked one of our characters down before he and his men fell but we healed him right back up. We effectively looted anything that wasn't nailed down and then set the prison on fire. Before that however the human fey blooded sorcerer looking at the dogs in the cages said "the dogs shouldn't starve.. that's cruel." then took the body of the warden and stuck his dead body into the dogs cages. lol
After that we made it leisurely to the manor house. Signed the pact and mingled some with the other knot learning their story. In 3 days we got our 24 hour mission to learn the lessons. Being all veteran gamers who like being creative, we completed the lessons in 30 game world minutes. We didn't kill Tim the kid, we got info from him, found out Sir Balin would be at the end. We figured we have to kill him so when we went into his chamber my character had Tim held with a sword against Tim's throat telling Sir Balin to drop his weapons and shield, and get on the ground. He did and our casters mage handed them away from him. Sir Balin then realized we worshipped big A and then flipped out, standing up and attacked us despite his charge being held as a hostage. At which point we surrounded him and beat him down (he had no weapons but a dagger and no shield, so it didn't take too long). None of us fell in the 9 lessons. Thorn was indeed impressed.
We then got our next mission to go up north. We purchased some equipment, boarded the boarded the frost hammer and headed north. We ran into the patrol and my character put on the necklace from Sir Balin, and turned to look like a knight. They boarded us and asked what we were doing. I told them we were bringing orphans much needed relief up north, and got some intel from him in casual conversation. He totally bought it and even donated 2GP for those pooooorr orphans before he let us go. ;)
After that we traveled more north, met some merfolk type creatures and water elementals we stomped hard on an island. The one with the trident got away though. We then met with some atuk or some such traders we successfully traded those masterwork items for ivory with. Then we ran into the mephit, we stomped and with him begging for his life he agreed to become our minion (he is a mixture of annoying and hilarious to be sure) so we kept him against the capatin of the frost hammer's preference.
Then when we finally got all the way to the bugbear's dock we met the 3 who were speaking in goblin, we tried intimidating them but it didn't work. That's fine as we pounded them pretty fast. Fireaxe came and gave his speach. We told him we'd meet with him in a few moments, we just needed to settle some thing with the captain. He seemed reluctant but let us. After he walked away, our party all looked at each other and positioned ourselves tactically on the boat. As inconspicuously as we could so we could flank captain and his crew. We cucceeded. Our cleric started off with "oh your crewmate is injured.. let me heal him for you!" *inflict light wounds* *bluff* "Oh I'm sorry.. let me try again" *inflict light wounds*. Then initiative started with us getting a surprise round. Holy crap the captain was tough (I'm guessing he was lvl8-10 due to his hit points and number of attacks!).. even with our good positioning and tactics we were basically just very lucky we only had one of our characters fall during combat (not die, just on the ground). However even with that.. to be honest we weren't in any real danger. At this point our group is starting to feel kinda invincible.
Note I did tell our DM in this last game that since we have almost twice the number of players (as it was written for 4 pcs as we have 7), he might want to up the enemy count. He assured me it will get tougher and left it at that.
In any case we then looted and burned the boat and joined the feast with Fireaxe. After getting our next mission from Fireaxe we learned we need a boat again at which point we face palmed.. We'll see if we can barter with one of them to get a ride there from one of their boats (they want to sell us a boat in exchange for the captains great axe.. and unless its a folding boat I dont' think we'll want to "keep it" as we think we'll just have to abandon it once across the other side.
That's were we're at now. We play again this Thursday. I can't wait!
Some interesting things of note:
Once the monk and my character hit level 5 and we take our 3rd vamp feat, we become undead. At this point the "disguise self" hats don't help us blend in with the common folk any longer. That is since our type changes to undead and disguise self only allows one to look like other subtypes of this main type.. we could only look like other undead creatures (which I guess has its own tactical uses).
In any case I guess we'll need to break out the powder and fake stashe kits before we hit any populated areas once we become undead.
Part Two for you Gary:
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Finally got my 3rd session in (moving can be soooo disruptive).
The session went quite well if a little unexpected at the end.
The party was resting at the manor and having their requests for equipment being filled. As a smart choice they decided to pool resources together and chipped in for a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.
The necromancer requested 3 corpses... /sigh.
Going into the 9 Lessons, my players looked at me mournfully... they hate puzzles!
The first room was quite amusing, the party filled the room and then the goblin rogue went to check out the door... failed his perception check and reflex save and fell into the pit and hit a spike. Grumblejack reached in and pulled him out. But it seemed that the first trap was going to be par for the course for the evening, the goblin rogue failed to spot any of the traps and triggered them all.
They found Timeon and convinced him that they were trying to 'clear' the dungeon of evil things and they would be more than happy to take him along. The Witch recognized the name of Sir Balin and was starting to plot revenge. With some really good diplomacy rolls and bluffs they convinced Timeon that the 3 skeletons were villagers animated by foul magic and that they were 'escorting' them out of the dungeon for proper burial.
With the pedestal & silver pendant (fake) the goblin rogue after being told specifically not to touch it (with the orc monk using intimidate)... of course pocketed the pendant. The goblin decided to make off with the pendant and return it to Cardinal Thorn so that he would get the reward... so up the stairs he went, right into the spiked ball that came crashing down. Afterwards the rest of the party forceibly reminded the goblin about the Pact of Thorns.
Avoiding the shrieker room and quickly dispatching the undead the party at last came to Sir Balin's room. At this point the goblin was feeling very paranoid about traps and carefully went over the locked door. One of the other players mentioned that in this case the door probably wasn't trapped, but that it was probably the key ring that was... my players are evil!
As all the PCs were disguised as something (even Grumblejack was disguised as a very large human) Sir Balin didn't immediately attack. Then he was reunited with his squire. He was overjoyed to see that his squire was unharmed and alive... and then Sir Balin was overcome by 'Murderous Command' and cut Timeon in two.
With considerable role playing the party managed to start Sir Balin on the path of evil (after all how could Mitra have let him cut down his own squire, obviously Mitra doesn't really care).
The party turned in the pendant to Cardinal Thorn, trained up and are ready for the next Act.
The 'turning' Sir Balin to the dark side was not what I was expecting, but the Witch (who Sir Balin caught for Convorting with Dark Powers) figured it was a more fitting punishment than just killing him.
Then to add to his torment later, some of the party members would use their Iron Circlets to look like 'Timeon' to ravish Sir Balin with guilt.
A priceless session.
Gary, I've said it before but very well done.
One of the things I really like about the AP so far is that there is very little prep required or flipping through other books to find stat blocks.
Good stuff.
John
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Due to unforeseen circumstances the campaign's been put on hold for a month. We'll be starting in Dec. On the plus side, we've got a new player.
The group will be as follows:
A tiefling flame specialist wizard
A succubus spell-less ranger
A whisper gnome ninja
A red dragonblood lord of darkness (anti-paladin)
A samsaran metal oracle
A vishkanya slaver (rogue)
An infernal human unholy barrister (cleric)
I'll be adding some creatures and a fair bit of templates to challenge these guys since this plus Grumblejack will make them twice the suggested party numbers of the campaign.
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Someone asked a while back about playing for six, and I suggested upgrading the Warden. Here's the upgraded version:
** spoiler omitted **...
I did the same thing (advancing him). However, I used the Overpowered Feats/templates, Gestalt and Skill Domination, and made him a lvl 2 fighter (feat gives you the special column of the class at 1/2 HD and all skills are class skills) giving him +1 CR and gave him PC stats and wealth (low charge wands, and scrolls) for another +1 CR. His Dex is 2 higher, and better at doing ranged attacks for damage with less range penalties. I also gave him a flaw for his lack of one eye, which gave him another feat, and gave him a magical eyepatch.
Wow, I have a lot of posts on this board I haven't read and/or answered. Let me just say that between Book VI, the Kickstarter, Thanksgiving and certain secret projects -- I've been utterly swamped.
After tomorrow when the Creature Card Kickstarter is over I will make some time to catch up here, I promise.
Thanks everyone for your ongoing support for Fire Mountain Games and "Way of the Wicked". We love you guys!
Okay, back to the grindstone.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
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Hey Gary. Good to see you posting.
That raises another question: what about upgrading our good friend, Sergeant Blackerly? (Note that I want to keep this relatively simple.) I have some ideas along these lines, but I'd be interested to hear what others have done.
Doug M.
I didn't actually do much with him. Gave him PC stats (Dex 14/Int 12/Wis 12) and the Bully trait (+1 Intimidate) for +1 CR and two levels of Expert for +2 CR. As well, I gave him the Coward flaw for another bonus feat, Run. Total of CR 5. This increased his wealth table so I gave him masterwork chainmail, a potion of fly (so he can try to escape better), and a couple more cure light potions.
Also, did anyone else notice that Blackerly's initiative was +0 and not +1 for having Dex 13?
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After finishing Carrion Crown with a party of 2 paladins of Iomedae, a cleric of Pharasma, an Oracle of Life, and a swashbuckler, my group was ready for this adventure path and get their evil on!
I'd like to throw a question out for Gary or anyone else on a way to make something work.
One of my players would like to play a Drow cleric and was interested in the Demonic Apostle from the ARG.
Any ideas for converting this to more of a Devil theme? My initial ideas to make this work for the campaign would be to limit the domain to Lawful, Evil or Devil subdomain and have the channel only affect Good and Chaotic creatures. For familiar I would swap Quasit for an Imp.
What about a substitute for the rage power, as that seems inappropriate for a Devil theme.
Thanks and I am excited to start this! Very good stuff
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David,
It's a pretty straight forward revamp for demonic apostle. I think you're on top of all the chaotic/lawful/familiar revision.
Call the archetype the Infernal Apostle. Replace rage with heroism. Perhaps giving the heroism effect a devilish flavor by also imparting fire resistance 5 for the duration, but holy and silver weapons do an additional 1d6 of damage. Something similar.
I think that will give you the devil-worshipper archetype you're looking for.
Hope that helps and thanks for your kind words about "Way of the Wicked".
Hope that helps,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Check out our kickstarter! Creature Cards
Thanks Gary! That was what I was thinking of doing to replace rage, but I like the additional twist you suggested!
Is there a site or anything similar, with other content like a GM Reference or player content?
Ah ok thanks.