The Evil Queen |
Dragon78 wrote:I can't wait to see those ancient Osirion artifacts and relics.
If I remember correctly the last issue had too cut a monster from it's bestiary, will this creature be in this book or the next?
Maybe. We're pretty good at getting monsters that deserve to see print who were cut for space reasons into print.
But believe it or not... a not insignificant amount of monsters get cut because they end up deserving it. Those loser monsters end up forever on the cutting room floor where they should stay.
AKA: If someone likes the monsters we print a lot... that's partially due to us doing our jobs and shielding that person from monsters that would disappoint and lower the expected quality of monsters Paizo publishes overall.
Are there any real-myth/folklore and cryptid creatures among those "cut" creatures?
And if they are cut, do they ever return in a different version?
Like someone created a horrible version of the awesome Namazu, but you think it sucks, does another person get a chance to re-create another Namazu in a very different and more deserving style?
James Jacobs Creative Director |
James Jacobs wrote:Dragon78 wrote:Have there been any monsters cut because of the artwork for it?Absolutely.Did you then order new artwork and then use the monster?
It seems like if the design is done, it would be cheaper to order a new piece of art, than to order a new piece of art *plus* a new design for a new monster.
In most cases, we had time, and thus ordered new art. In others we didn't. In those cases, we often just sit on the monster and then get it in print later. Some never see print.
But art is ALWAYS more expensive than text. And often, it is indeed cheaper to NOT order new art and just count what we paid for the text as a loss, frankly. Plus, there's always better monsters.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
James Jacobs wrote:Dragon78 wrote:I can't wait to see those ancient Osirion artifacts and relics.
If I remember correctly the last issue had too cut a monster from it's bestiary, will this creature be in this book or the next?
Maybe. We're pretty good at getting monsters that deserve to see print who were cut for space reasons into print.
But believe it or not... a not insignificant amount of monsters get cut because they end up deserving it. Those loser monsters end up forever on the cutting room floor where they should stay.
AKA: If someone likes the monsters we print a lot... that's partially due to us doing our jobs and shielding that person from monsters that would disappoint and lower the expected quality of monsters Paizo publishes overall.
Are there any real-myth/folklore and cryptid creatures among those "cut" creatures?
And if they are cut, do they ever return in a different version?
Like someone created a horrible version of the awesome Namazu, but you think it sucks, does another person get a chance to re-create another Namazu in a very different and more deserving style?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
archmagi1 |
Since Book 6 has shipped, I imagine this one has as well - any cool little tidbits people with the PDF want to tantalize the rest of us with?
One big attack pyramid is sent to fetch the PC's, fully expecting them to throw down arms and surrender. The Map of the Slave Trenches is given a 1" = 1 mile scale and has four complexes plus overworld encounters. Starts at 13, ends at 15.
Lord Gadigan |
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Since Book 6 has shipped, I imagine this one has as well - any cool little tidbits people with the PDF want to tantalize the rest of us with?
* The support article has an intelligent weapon, two minor artifacts, and two major artifacts. This is on top of two minor artifacts that the PCs can get in the adventure itself. Lots of impressive treasures.
* The ossumentals (undead that manifest in areas of high elemental energy where there's a large number of dead souls, with the Slave Trenches currently being the only known location) have rather awesome art, particularly the half-page piece showing the final encounter of the module.
* The shory apparently used tamed dinosaurs as part of their armies. The pharaoh's forces managed to kill their spinosaurus, and the PCs get to deal with it as a mummified guardian.
Lord Gadigan |
Anything interesting in the Shory article?
Lord Gadigan |
Life Lantern (Minor Artifact) - A golden ankh with a sapphire in it that radiates light or darkness depending on if the wielder is living or undead. It enhances necromancy. Dying things around it get +4 to stabilize, and it prevents those resurrected within its light from taking negative levels. Once per year it can resurrect something it touches. If an undead has it, it gives undead near it fast-healing and can Create Greater Undead once a week. It can also act as a holy symbol for deities who have the Death or Healing domain.
Pharoah's Key (Minor Artifact) - It activates the superweapon in the Slave Trenches' firing process (used in the module to shoot down the Forgotten Pharaoh's flying pyramid). It also gives +5 to AC and Saves against elementals.
Lotus Stone of Namrut (Minor Artifact) - A limestone tablet shaped like a blossoming lotus. Namrut was a priest of Osiris who claimed to be descended from the deity and had a cult spring up around him; he moved on fro mthe world into a palace-temple-demiplane ages ago. If it is placed on a body that died within 48 hours, the soul of the deceased appears in Namrut's court. Namrut offers to return them to life so long as they agree to make it so that Namrut will not be forgotten. If they agree, he returns them to life at dawn and marks them with his lotus-symbol. So long as they continue to remember him, they also get several healing powers as special abilities (with use based on their Wisdom).
Omat's Sarcophagus (Major Artifact) - Crated by a relative of a pharaoh who had decreed that his entire family would follow him into the afterlife. The relative (Omat, a Sorceror) did not wish to die, so he built a special sarcophagus that could travel to other planes and that would rebuild his body from death in a youthful state. It resurrects anyone who has been dead longer than a month (grabbing the soul and pulling it into the sarcophagus) and builds them a new young-adult-version of their body. It can get around death form old age and has no time limit on resurrecting people, but it takes a while to bring them back. It can also be ridden in (reciting a prayer on the inside lid to activate it) to the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, or Boneyard (with the person who went there also being able to return so long as they do so in 48 hours).
Sistrum of Bastet (Minor Artifact) - An instrument created by worshipers of Bastet during the Keleshite rule of Osirion who were attempting to incite sentiment against the Keleshite occupiers. It allows a performing Bard to Heighten the spells of divine casters who are being performed for by expending performance rounds. It also lets the Bard mix performing with casting spells (masking that the bard is doing both on a successful Perform check opposed by Sense Motive). The Bard can also use it to send secret messages through performance with no check needed. Additionally, it lets bards who own it pick Cleric spells to replace Bard ones they know when leveling (with these spells being lost until the Bard gets it back if they lose it for more than a day).
Was Scepter (Major Artifact) - Made by Azghaad, possibly with the help of Nethys. It was used as the original scepter of the pharaoh's rule. It is rumored that agents of the current pharaoh work to keep it missing, as a descendant of the original pharaohnic line because it could potentially give them a divine claim to rule Osirion. It's a +4 Light Mace that can extend into a double-weapon on command. It can be planted into the ground to claim dominion over people, reality, and time within a bubble around it. It can, in this mode, create Sanctuary, Protection against Chaos, Dimensional Lock, a 1/day bubble that automatically Banishes the first 40 HD of extraplanar beings that try to enter it (Will to Resist), and 1/day group Time Stop (with the number of people pulled into the Time Stop based on the wielder's Charisma).
Lord Gadigan |
Yes, you're reading correctly. It gives those it brings back with the mark the ability to perform (1 + WIS mod)/day a ritual involving prayer and drinking lotus tea that produces an effect identical to Cure Critical wounds, Neutralize Poison, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Disease, or Restoration. The powers don't require you to have the artifact in your possession.
What constitutes 'remembering' him is left open to GM interpretation. The only thing that clearly removes the powers is having the lotus-mark on you removed with a Wish or Miracle. The overall wording of the section makes me want to lean more towards the lenient side, where so long as you mention him to someone who asks about the lotus-mark or use the power sometimes (with the accompanying prayer and tea), you should be fine.
That *is* a nasty curse, but I think parties this far into a mummy-themed AP should have access to curse removal, and the squishier characters are likely to make the Will save to begin with, so I wouldn't put it into 'meat grinder' territory like I would if it showed up in some sort of low-level module.
Edit: It's also alignment-keyed, so there's the possibility that if the PCs are a diverse set of alignments, it won't be as nasty as it otherwise might be.
Alleran |
** spoiler about the Lotus Stone omitted **
Very intriguing, and not overpowering either (I like it!). I presume the abilities are supernatural rather than spell-like, given that it involves a ritual? Probably takes a little while, so they're not too good for combat, but would serve a character well in out-of-combat healing and recovery.
Lord Gadigan |
Very intriguing, and not overpowering either (I like it!). I presume the abilities are supernatural rather than spell-like, given that it involves a ritual? Probably takes a little while, so they're not too good for combat, but would serve a character well in out-of-combat healing and recovery.
I'm a fan of the item too. It doesn't specify on supernatural vs. spell-like, but I'd lean supernatural too because of the casting-time difference.
So does the Sarcophagus take longer to bring someone back who died from old age than someone who died from, say, multiple stab wounds to the chest?
The same time for either (2d12 days). It's probably not the best source of resurrections from in-combat death for PCs since the body has to be dead for a month before the Sarcophagus will start the revival process. That said, it performs the resurrections for free and manages to get around several of the normal restrictions on resurrecting people, making it potentially highly useful.