The Stormblades: Since they all have a level of Aristocrat, and you can only be an Aristocrat if you take a level at 1st level
Bram, where exactly do you get that rule from?
It's from DMG, page 108, under the description of the Aristocrat class:
"An aristocrat cannot be a multiclass character unless his or her first level is in the aristocrat class."
Since the classes in the SRD don't have any description this sentence was cut there as well.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's from DMG, page 108, under the description of the Aristocrat class
Thanks. I must be blind, since I tried to find it exactly there.
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Stormblades: Since they all have a level of Aristocrat, and you can only be an Aristocrat if you take a level at 1st level, and Aristocrats at 1st level have a BAB of +0, most of the Stormblades can't have Weapon Focus (rapier) and Weapon Finesse, as it requires a BAB +1 to take it.
Nice.
This'll be fixed.|
Creative Director
|
1) I know this has been denied already but I will voice my opinion to change Keygan's rat being captured to something/someone else.
This is one change I'm not going to be making. Rescuing a wizard's familiar is a nice variant on the "rescue the NPC" plot. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the PCs see Keygan as a victim or a chump, since their goal in the adventure is to rescue the abductees. In the context of the adventure, it works fine; Keygan's probably had his familiar for decades, after all, and has formed a strong emotional bond with the rat. I know people who dote on pets they've had for only a year or two; if they could actually talk to their pets and have had the same pet for decades, I think they'd react pretty much the same way Keygan did.
2) The Umber Hulk encounter would be vastly improved if the DM was told where the PC's are when the encounter starts rather than just saying they are walking down the street as this varies the encounter and events drastically.
This is a good point. I'll beef up the setup section of this encounter
3) Information on what happened while the PC's where in Occipitus. What was the result of Terseon going to Redgorge? I had to come up with some plausible explanation and some insight into this would be helpful.
This will be covered in one of the "Behind the Scenes" sidebars.
4) Raising Alek Tercival.
Tercival's death is one of the areas that's always kinda stuck in my craw. Hinging the development of the plot on an NPC's death is a bad move. Instead, I'm going to rework this section. In most campaigns, Tercival's still gonna bite the dust. But it'll also be possible for the PCs to spearhead his salvation, in which case the PCs will gain a handy place to learn more about the enemies they face.
The ecounter in Vhalantru's house with the bird cages. There are suppposed to be 3 naga's in that room but the house is too small to have them ambush the party (let alone have the party all in one room)
Vhalantru's house was one of those victims of space issues; it got compressed quite a bit for the issue and will be able to uncompress in the HC. The naga situation will be fixed, is what I'm saying. ;-)
5) What the DM is to do if the party discovers some info ahead of time?
All the information in the adventure will be organized in the way it is most likely to be uncovered. The "Behind the Scenes" sidebars in each chapter will outline what's going on during that chapter, and what information the PCs should learn. If the PCs learn something early, ther'll be enough info in the book that the DM won't have to do too much work, althoguh if they head over to Vhalantru's house when they're too low level, they'll be very sad very soon.
6) Change Vhalantru's first name. Orbius is too obvious.
Agreed. He's referred to only as Vhalantru in the campaign now. He uses the name Orbius only in beholder form, and only when interactig with people who know the truth behind his ruse or with those who don't know he's also a noble in Cauldron.
7) Give better tactics for Vhalantru. I am about to run this fight next session and I feel that his tactics are horribly lacking.
I assume you're talking about the climax for "Lords of Oblivian." I bet his tactics were condensed in that issue to fit the adventure in... They'll be better in the HC.
James,
Here's a few more ideas although some are bordering on story improvements but I'll throw them out there...
1) Pronunciation of some of the more bizarre locales - Jzadirune, Bhal-Hamatugn, etc
2) Sometime near the beginning of the adventure have the PC's meet another party on a mission and just leaving town. These would be the same NPC's the party sees turned to stone in Lords of Oblivion. Or, alternatively, have the party learn of some groups exploits in the past. It will make it that much more ominous when they see the statues.
3) Fix the map scale in Smoking Eye, test 2, Plain of Cysts. It's pretty hard to recreate a 15' square map onto a 5' square map for mini's....
4) Flesh out the flood festival, if nothing else for the roleplaying opportunity to meet the church leaders and in particular Embril. This could show the antagonism between Wee Jas and St. Cuthbert. The old addage of the earlier the villain is introduced the bigger the wow factor is seems to apply here.
5) Touch up Zenith and Alek's lunatic ravings to have more bearing on the campaign. While some seem to relate other don't seem to (or are so obtuse I don't see it). :)
6) As an alternative to changing Keygan's rat to a brother/sister/etc how about making him part of the Chisel so he comes into the campaign later on and isn't forgotten about. This will give Maavu more motivation to approach the PC's later since they helped out a Chisel member.
7) Tighten the rules, map design and PC/NPC starting location for the riot scene. This suffers from some of the same difficulties as the Umber Hulk encounter. Both of which by the way are highly cool - just better direction to help a DM out would be nice.
That's about it. I am at Lords of Oblivion and so can't help beyond that.
Oh, and one last request...
:)
This will probably start a flood of emails for you so my apologies but....
it would be really cool (and since I have already preordered and all) I would LOVE it if you added one of my PC's names to the adventure somewhere (perhaps in the new adventure). Feel free to pick from:
Strachan Fireblade, Ferric Ironblade (Anyone who understands chemistry will get this name), Spektorial, Lossuth Luthien, Andar Korin, Rizzen Illystrin.
(I've gotten a character or two into Baldur's Gate II so I thought I'd put a plug in here). I'll even go so far as to commit to a subscription if you can help me out ;)
Thanks again James.
|
Creative Director
|
1) Can you add some info to the Striders and what their goals are at certian points of the campaign?
Yes. There will be LOTS more info about the Striders. And the Chisel. And the Cagewrights. And the Last Laugh. And even the poor Alleybashers.
3) The Occipitus climax was very anticlimactic.
That'll happen. I'm thinking that every once in a while, it's cool if the PCs get to totally ruin the bad guys with lucky hits or what not. Not every battle needs to be an edge of the seat flirtation with a TPK, is what I'm saying... ;)
|
Creative Director
|
It would be really cool (and since I have already preordered and all) I would LOVE it if you added one of my PC's names to the adventure somewhere (perhaps in the new adventure).
Unfortunately... I'm not going to be making much renaming changes to the text, since that might cause weird continuity errors to crop up. That said, I do really appreciate the help all of you are offering in this thread, so I'll see what I can do about getting a thank you to you all in the credits page or something like that. No promises, since I don't control every single letter that'll appear in the final book, but I'll see what I can do. :-)
There is one thing that I just thought of.... the 'Mob' type rules. My players and myself were very confused about how to work these rules, to the point that we had to wing it. We were wondering why a mob of people had a double digit will save, when the mod was made up of primarily 1st level commoners. You want to consider either making the way these critter operate clearer or modify the type altogether.
Squid
My players are beginning to suspect the church of Kelemvor (I'm running AP in the Realms), and are starting to investigate why they didn't help with the floodings during Flood Festival. It would be nice to get some more information on what the player's can find out about the different organizations in AP. Also, my players are quite fond of using divinations, so it would be nice to get some information on what they can find out using that.
|
Ever realized how much we readers trust the guys at the Paizo/Dungeon-office already?!
I know a lot of players who already pre-ordered the hardcover without knowing how the changes will be, how it will look like, how it is bound, etc... just a thought ;)
Ah, one more thing. Again. it's about space:
In Bhal-Hamatugn's room#14 (Dhorlot's lair) - I think it's also too small for a large dragon! In my campaign I inserted a hole in the northern end of the western wall. There was an entry to a tunnel-system which was totally under water. There was a dragon egg lying down there and it also provided an easy entry/exit way for Dhorlot.
My players loved to dive in there and fought the dragon under water, while snatching the egg!
So, how about to make room#14 a bit larger, or enter some more tunnels for Dhorlot...?
|
Creative Director
|
There is one thing that I just thought of.... the 'Mob' type rules. My players and myself were very confused about how to work these rules, to the point that we had to wing it. We were wondering why a mob of people had a double digit will save, when the mod was made up of primarily 1st level commoners. You want to consider either making the way these critter operate clearer or modify the type altogether.
Squid
The mob rules have been modified a bit and worked on some more... I think they might be going into an upcoming WotC book but I'm not sure. (Just cause I included them in my turnover for said book doesn't mean they'll make the final cut.)
In any case, they will be easier to use in the HC.
|
Creative Director
|
My players are beginning to suspect the church of Kelemvor (I'm running AP in the Realms), and are starting to investigate why they didn't help with the floodings during Flood Festival. It would be nice to get some more information on what the player's can find out about the different organizations in AP. Also, my players are quite fond of using divinations, so it would be nice to get some information on what they can find out using that.
There won't be enough room to give advice for divination spells on every topic, but I'll do the next best thing: detail the locations and organizations in the region so that when these situations DO come up, the DM will have the tools handy to handle the situation.
|
Creative Director
|
In Bhal-Hamatugn's room#14 (Dhorlot's lair) - I think it's also too small for a large dragon! In my campaign I inserted a hole in the northern end of the western wall. There was an entry to a tunnel-system which was totally under water. There was a dragon egg lying down there and it also provided an easy entry/exit way for Dhorlot.
My players loved to dive in there and fought the dragon under water, while snatching the egg!
So, how about to make room#14 a bit larger, or enter some more tunnels for Dhorlot...?
That room's small on purpose; if Dhorlot has a lot of room to move around, the encounter gets deadly quick. I do think he needs a better reason to be in such a tiny room, though, so I'll come up with one.
There's unfortunately not much budget to change the existing maps, so in most of these cases I'll be solving problems like these in the text rather than on the maps themselves. Again, though, I don't think this case is a problem... Dhorlot's supposed to be in a cramped and tiny room. Maybe he's hiding from some other dragon he cheesed off? Perhaps Gottrod? And that's why Gottrod's all uppity upstairs? He's looking for Dhorlot and getting frustrated and attacking crazy hermits while the black dragon cools his jets in a tiny little room downstairs. Hmmm...
I am a big fan of spacing out adventures. I think it is fair to do, the way they are written there is little or no way a PC could use their item creation feats and it would be difficult to have their own goals.
I plan on stealing the idea of traveling to Cauldron and meeting the characters who are later found in the Lucky Monkey... I REALLY like making the things in later adventures be well forshadowed (or at least exposed) earlier in the campaign.
Upon arrival in Cauldron I will probably have the flood festival beginning. After the final festivities they will encounter the priest in the alley getting trashed. (Well from the looks of things I might be changing the main temple to another religion and then let it be the PC priest who is getting harrased and that is how he/she meets).
If you are not going to space out the sections then either suggest the use of alternate crafting from Unearthed Arcana or suggest that PCs not waste any precious feats on things the story is designed to not let them use.
It has been stated that one of the things that Dungeon is looking for in 1st level/introductory adventures is a way to bring the group together. Some creative Cauldron ways of doing this would be great. So you have the travelers meeting the party who is heading out to get the wands, maybe those in town get something different... who knows.
If the PCs are all going to be local there needs to be facilities or methods they all got trained. Where did the monk train? Are there monks in town or some sort of school/monastary? What about priests of other faiths?
Anyway, just some ideas off the top of my head.
Sean Mahoney
Hey James
Not to be argumentative/hostile/whatever you want to call it, but don’t you think charging $53.95 (and that’s Paizo’s discounted rate!) for a hard-cover collection of these adventures is a bit steep?
I know inflation is a bee-atch, and this is the 1970’s when you could get your books for $20, but I still find it hard to justify paying this much for material that was all ready published in the magazines.
Again, not to be confrontational (please don’t take it that way) but I would just like to see if you guys could explain it to me.
Cheers and keep up the great work (except for that “Wil Save” crap) at DUNGEON.
Stay Frosty and Keep An Eye On Your Six!
|
Creative Director
|
I am a big fan of spacing out adventures. I think it is fair to do, the way they are written there is little or no way a PC could use their item creation feats and it would be difficult to have their own goals.
Agreed. There's opportunities for PCs to do item creation between adventures for the first 2/3 of the campaing, but once Lords of Oblivion starts, it seems like the rest of the campaign takes place in a week or less. No good for item creating characters. And really no good for wizards, who won't have time to even scribe new spells.
I'll be making some adjustments to the campaign timeline as a result so that item creation and spell scribing won't get ignored.
It has been stated that one of the things that Dungeon is looking for in 1st level/introductory adventures is a way to bring the group together. Some creative Cauldron ways of doing this would be great. So you have the travelers meeting the party who is heading out to get the wands, maybe those in town get something different... who knows.
If there's room and time, I plan on including some info on how to get the party together in the HC.
If the PCs are all going to be local there needs to be facilities or methods they all got trained. Where did the monk train? Are there monks in town or some sort of school/monastary? What about priests of other faiths?
This will be covered in the introduction of the HC.
Hey James,
First, I'm loving the Shackled City Path! And I think it is great that you're getting user input to make it better, rather than just slapping them together to make a quick buck!
Here are a few of my ideas:
1) Earlier you mentioned changing the Kopru ruins to something else. In my version, I'm making all the local "ancient" ruins Spellweaver ruins. This leads up nicely to Karran-Kural, and the spellweaver aiding Embril near the end.
2) In my version, I've separated the groups trying to open the gate to Carceri, and the group trying to free Adimarchus. My idea is: the Cagewrights are using Cauldron, the Last Laugh, Kazmojen, the Ebon Triad, etc. The as-yet unnamed group trying to free Adimarchus is using the Cagewrights, hoping that in the confusion the expansion of Carceri to the Prime Material they can get in and free Adimarchus. I'm thinking that the group trying to free Adimarchus is a coalition of demons fighting Grazz't. You could even have a deep-cover agent of Grazz't helping the party out, right until the very end, when they've defeated Adimarchus.
3) They'll (the free-Adimarchus-ites) need someone who can get the smoking eye template as well. I guess that's Kaurophon. I never really liked him, he was a bit too random. I'd prefer someone the party knows, someone who can more easily convince them to get to go off to Occipitus with him/her. I still haven't figured this out for my campaign...
Maybe try to tie the Hags into this? Maybe they were trying to manipulate Alec so he could get the Smoking Eye, and then with his reduced Wisdom, he'd be easily controllable (this idea is not mine, don't remember where I read it)?
4) I've replaced Celeste with Thifirane Rhiavadi. I know you've said you'll not change Celeste, but it's just my $0.02.
5) I was disappointed with the big new Greyhawk map having Cauldron on the water (loved the rest of it, though). Why? Why not have Sassarine in that nice little bay just slightly south, and have Cauldron a half-dozen hexes south, inland. Then you can just flip north-for-south (ish) on that area map in Flood Season, and it all pretty much works out.
6) It'd be nice to have some suggested locales for Toril and Eberron.
7) I occasionally thought that a population of 4500 adults seemed low. I don't really have anything to back this up. Just something to think about.
8) You mentioned fleshing out Cauldron more, especially in terms of industries. Obsidian gets mentioned a few times. I included a booming mining industry (including mithral, which is a help to the cagewrights, especially after Triel waylays some shipments to Sasserine). For flavour (no pun intended), I included coffee and exotic fruits. I had just been to Hawaii, and was reminded that some of the best coffee in the world comes from small plantations on the sides of volcanos in tropical locations. Also, it stands to reason that Cauldron has to import most of its foodstuffs.
9) I also recommend having an additional (collapsed?) entrance to Jzadirune, or a way for the Dark Creepers to get there (how did they get there? It seems that they were there before the Skulks showed up?).
10) Try to introduce some of the baddies from LoO and 13 Cages earlier, for flavour?
11) If you provide some downloadable maps, I'd like one that is high-res, not too dark - suitable for printing BIG! Maybe one that is blank, and one that has major non-secret locations on it. Stores, temples, taverns, city buildings.
12) Where's the town market? I put it near all Maavu's stuff.
13) Maybe have more stores at least mentioned (don't have to be statted out), just so that they can be tossed in. "Oh, you need some expensive clothes? Try X on Obsidian Ave NE, or Y on ..."
Keep up the good work!
Steve
Here's a few thing off the top of my head...
The whole thing with Ike Iverson buffing the assassins bothers me. If the party has an easy time with the assassins and takes the fight right to Ike, then there is no mention of how to change his spell selection for having buffed the assassins. Maybe a little blurb about Ike using scrolls for all the buffs or how to change his spell allotment to account for having cast spells for the buffing.
Ike's invisibility tactic in the temple while the invisibility purge from the uhallow is still in effect...this can work as long as you clarify that the invisibility purge only affects non-worshippers of Wee Jas, as per the unhallow spell.
Ike's hero's feast is said to affect all the minions in the temple, but it can't affect the wraith, and no menion of the minions in the lower temple having recieved the benefits is made.
Fetor's spells should have 1 or 2 modified by his Death Frost metamagic feat, or his feat should be replaced with one that he uses.
Dugobras has a +1 huge warhammer. He is a large creature. He should have a -2 penalty for using an oversize weapon or his warhammer needs to shrik down to large size.
Lriznisith's tactic in Skullrot is to teleport away even though there is a dimensional lock active. Also, Skullrot has an unhallow with an invisibility purge that needs a better explanation like the on in the Wee Jas temple. I don't hink any of the baddies in Skullrot can turn invisible, but still...
The map scale on the second layer of Karran Kurral should be 10' per square and not 5' per square, keeping the rooms and hallways the same as the first layer, and also keeping in line with the descriptino of the ledge in the room with the bone naga.
I'm sure I'll think of more things later on.
|
Creative Director
|
1) Earlier you mentioned changing the Kopru ruins to something else. In my version, I'm making all the local "ancient" ruins Spellweaver ruins. This leads up nicely to Karran-Kural, and the spellweaver aiding Embril near the end.
I ended up keeping them as kopru ruins, because their architecture is so different than the spellweaver dungeons we have later. I did ad more spellweaver stuff in to Life's Bazaar though, to forshadow their presence.
2) In my version, I've separated the groups trying to open the gate to Carceri, and the group trying to free Adimarchus. My idea is: the Cagewrights are using Cauldron, the Last Laugh, Kazmojen, the Ebon Triad, etc. The as-yet unnamed group trying to free Adimarchus is using the Cagewrights, hoping that in the confusion the expansion of Carceri to the Prime Material they can get in and free Adimarchus. I'm thinking that the group trying to free Adimarchus is a coalition of demons fighting Grazz't. You could even have a deep-cover agent of Grazz't helping the party out, right until the very end, when they've defeated Adimarchus.
Although Graz'zt's presence will be slightly more noticable in the HC, there's not really enough room or time to introduce a new group of bad guys into the mix.
3) They'll (the free-Adimarchus-ites) need someone who can get the smoking eye template as well. I guess that's Kaurophon. I never really liked him, he was a bit too random. I'd prefer someone the party knows, someone who can more easily convince them to get to go off to Occipitus with him/her. I still haven't figured this out for my campaign...
Again, we don't have enoguh time and room to develop a new group properly... I'll try to make Kaurophon less random though; I've got a few ideas on how to make that work better.
4) I've replaced Celeste with Thifirane Rhiavadi. I know you've said you'll not change Celeste, but it's just my $0.02.
Celeste has reasons for doing what she did, so we arn't replacing her. Her purpose in the HC will be less enigmatic though.
5) I was disappointed with the big new Greyhawk map having Cauldron on the water (loved the rest of it, though). Why? Why not have Sassarine in that nice little bay just slightly south, and have Cauldron a half-dozen hexes south, inland. Then you can just flip north-for-south (ish) on that area map in Flood Season, and it all pretty much works out.
We wanted to put both locations on the map, but we also wanted to squirrel them away to explain why no one else in the world of Greyhawk had really heard much about these cities.
6) It'd be nice to have some suggested locales for Toril and Eberron.
Done.
7) I occasionally thought that a population of 4500 adults seemed low. I don't really have anything to back this up. Just something to think about.
It probably is low. It's also relatively easy to fix, fortunately. A quick estimate is that there's about 1200 buildings in Cauldron. For cities, I generally use a rough calculation of 5 people per building, so by that calculation, there should be 6000 people living in Cauldron. Which makes it a large city, which changes a LOT about the campaign. So I'll probably ramp it back to about 4,900 or so. That said... upgrading the town to a small city would certainly help to keep higher level characters rooted there; they wouldn't always be tempted to go to Sasserine or other big cities to go shopping.
Anyone out there wanna take up the challenge of counting up how many buildings are on that Cauldron map? ;-)
8) You mentioned fleshing out Cauldron more, especially in terms of industries. Obsidian gets mentioned a few times. I included a booming mining industry (including mithral, which is a help to the cagewrights, especially after Triel waylays some shipments to Sasserine). For flavour (no pun intended), I included coffee and exotic fruits. I had just been to Hawaii, and was reminded that some of the best coffee in the world comes from small plantations on the sides of volcanos in tropical locations. Also, it stands to reason that Cauldron has to import most of its foodstuffs.
Obsidian is one of the main exports of the region. Close behind are various mining, mostly diamond and other gems. Lumber is also important, as are tropical spices and produce; coffee and sugar would work nice. Cauldron definatley has to import its food. There's a minor fishing industry in the lake, and the smaller surrounding villages have some farming, but not enough to really support such a large settlement. A lot of the city's warehouses probably do double-duty as food stores.
9) I also recommend having an additional (collapsed?) entrance to Jzadirune, or a way for the Dark Creepers to get there (how did they get there? It seems that they were there before the Skulks showed up?).
Good question. I'll see what I can do.
10) Try to introduce some of the baddies from LoO and 13 Cages earlier, for flavour?
This is actually in my top five tasks for the project. If the PCS play all the way through the HC, they should definately have plenty of chances to meet all the villains in LoO and 13 Cages beforehand... or at least hear about them.
11) If you provide some downloadable maps, I'd like one that is high-res, not too dark - suitable for printing BIG! Maybe one that is blank, and one that has major non-secret locations on it. Stores, temples, taverns, city buildings.
I'll see what I can do.
12) Where's the town market? I put it near all Maavu's stuff.
Cauldron doesn't really have a centralized market, since they've got a finite ammount of ground to build stuff on. Merchants who don't have local shops pretty much set up their kiosks and stalls right on the streets.
13) Maybe have more stores at least mentioned (don't have to be statted out), just so that they can be tossed in. "Oh, you need some expensive clothes? Try X on Obsidian Ave NE, or Y on ..."
Good idea. It shall be done.
|
Creative Director
|
The whole thing with Ike Iverson buffing the assassins bothers me. If the party has an easy time with the assassins and takes the fight right to Ike, then there is no mention of how to change his spell selection for having buffed the assassins. Maybe a little blurb about Ike using scrolls for all the buffs or how to change his spell allotment to account for having cast spells for the buffing.
If the PCs can narrow down Ike as the enemy that quickly... more power to them. I'll make it more clear what spells Ike's used to buff the assassins, though, so if they confront him before a day's passed the DM can make the appropriate changes.
Ike's invisibility tactic in the temple while the invisibility purge from the uhallow is still in effect...this can work as long as you clarify that the invisibility purge only affects non-worshippers of Wee Jas, as per the unhallow spell.
This will be fixed.
Ike's hero's feast is said to affect all the minions in the temple, but it can't affect the wraith, and no menion of the minions in the lower temple having recieved the benefits is made.
This'll be cleared up.
Fetor's spells should have 1 or 2 modified by his Death Frost metamagic feat, or his feat should be replaced with one that he uses.
Done.
Dugobras has a +1 huge warhammer. He is a large creature. He should have a -2 penalty for using an oversize weapon or his warhammer needs to shrik down to large size.
Dugobras' stats are all messed up. They'll be fixed.
Lriznisith's tactic in Skullrot is to teleport away even though there is a dimensional lock active. Also, Skullrot has an unhallow with an invisibility purge that needs a better explanation like the on in the Wee Jas temple. I don't hink any of the baddies in Skullrot can turn invisible, but still...
I'll fix these too.
The map scale on the second layer of Karran Kurral should be 10' per square and not 5' per square, keeping the rooms and hallways the same as the first layer, and also keeping in line with the description of the ledge in the room with the bone naga.
Good point.
Alright... here's another suggestion...
The rumors for each section/chapter are a great place to insert foreshadowing.
Compile a much longer list of rumors. Remember that not all need to be accurate. Many will carry over from adventure to adventure (like the morkoth in the lake) and have some several adventures in advance letting us know what will happen later.
For instance, during Life's Bazaar the talk of the town might be about the beautiful gaurd who just killed some her fellow gaurds and is still on the loose... someone name Triel.
Make sure the players hear rumors of different planes and the infinite layers of the abyss.
Sean Mahoney
|
Creative Director
|
The rumors for each section/chapter are a great place to insert foreshadowing. Compile a much longer list of rumors. Remember that not all need to be accurate. Many will carry over from adventure to adventure (like the morkoth in the lake) and have some several adventures in advance letting us know what will happen later.
Way ahead of you on this one. The intro will have a master rumor list. When you roll up a rumor, you'll add a "Chapter modifier" to the roll, so when you're running "Demonskar Legacy" you'll not roll up rumors that mostly apply to the plots of Flood Season or Life's Bazzar, but you will roll up Demonskar rumors that weren't appropriate for the earlier ones.
For instance, during Life's Bazaar the talk of the town might be about the beautiful gaurd who just killed some her fellow gaurds and is still on the loose... someone name Triel.
Triel did her kill-crazy thingy about a decade ago, so this is way old news and wouldn't really work as a rumor, alas.
The Amaranth Elixir gives a bonus to Strength and a penalty to Wisdom, but these are unnamed bonuses unless I missed something. The text in the sidebar says that "It greatly enhances a creature's Strength..." but it doesn't say if it grants an enhancement bonus or if it's an unnamed bonus. Leaving the bonus unnamed opens a window for abuse of the Elixir, say if a medium size character drinks the Elixir and then a potion of Bull's Strength, he'd have a total bonus of +10 to his Strength. Of course, the Elixir penalizes Wisdom, and it has a chance of fading at sunset, and if a character wants to recharge, he has to go back into the Demonskar and get some more, but to the typical fighter-type, that's a fair trade-off for the big Strength boost.
The two fighter-types in my game keep returning for the Elixir, and I let it stay as an unnamed bonus to compensate for not having an arcane caster in the group. It does have a bit on an unbalancing effect during combat sometimes, for example the fight with Zharik Dhor only lasted 2 rounds, but against Vitriss Bale, it didn't help much becasue there was no way to fly up and hit the dragon with a melee weapon since no one in the party was capable of flying.
|
Creative Director
|
The Amaranth Elixir gives a bonus to Strength and a penalty to Wisdom, but these are unnamed bonuses unless I missed something. The text in the sidebar says that "It greatly enhances a creature's Strength..." but it doesn't say if it grants an enhancement bonus or if it's an unnamed bonus. Leaving the bonus unnamed opens a window for abuse of the Elixir, say if a medium size character drinks the Elixir and then a potion of Bull's Strength, he'd have a total bonus of +10 to his Strength. Of course, the Elixir penalizes Wisdom, and it has a chance of fading at sunset, and if a character wants to recharge, he has to go back into the Demonskar and get some more, but to the typical fighter-type, that's a fair trade-off for the big Strength boost.
The Amaranth Elixir should grant an enhancement bonus to Strength and an untyped penalty to Wisdom. If it gave an untyped bonus to Strength... you could drink it multiple times and cast some restorations to fix your Wisdom and Blammo... instant Hulk!
|
|
Another idea I just got:
How about having pics from the npcs on the hardcover? Ok, the "faces of Cauldron" pages are great, but a singel pic of a given npc would be far better. It would be so much easier to show it to the players...
I know, graphic issues are always a problem (space and what else...) but this would be great!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Mr. Jacombs, I did a little write up of some of the NPC, sometimes using some text straight from the books, sometimes using some characteristics from the DMG or just making it up my self. It proved quite helpful for me and another DM that I know who is running the AP. I had posted this same info in another thread and got some good feedback. Of course some of the stats change over time. If there is anything here that is helpful, you are more then welcome to use it in the HC. That goes for anyone else that would like to use this info.
Ruphus laro
Human cleric (St. cuthbert) lvl: 3
HP: 16, AC: 14, Init: -1
Ruphus is jenya urikas’s personal assistant. He runs around doing odd jobs for jenya such as delivering messages and running errands. Besides a slight stutter, there is nothing remarkable about him. He secretly has a crush on jenya and thinks by doing what she says; he’ll gain her respect and maybe even her love. He is also grateful to the Adventures for rescuing him from a band of last-laugh thugs and will willingly assist them in any way he can.
Jenya Urikas
Human cleric (St. Cuthbert) lvl: 7
HP 42, AC: 17, Init: -1
Jenya is 30 years old, has brown eyes and likes to wear her gray streaked hair in various elaborate styles. Although she stands only 5’4” tall, she walks tall and confronts evil with merciless resolve. Her good nature belies her fierce convictions, and she freely supports capital punishment for despicable crimes. Jenya had once loved Alek Tercival, but when her affections were not returned, she decided to focus more on the church then her personal life. She still remains good friends with the paladin.
Alek Tercival
Human aristocrat lvl: 5 / paladin lvl: 4
HP: 58, AC: 20, Init: +1
Alek Tercival, heir to one of the city’s greatest families became a paladin after his father’s death left him destitute. With the assistance of his childhood friend Jenya Urikas, Alek joined the church of St. Cuthbert with a strong (if rather flamboyant) passion. Alek’s advancement in the church has been painfully slow, but throughout it all his devotion has remained strong.
Sergeant Skylar Krewis
Human fighter lvl: 4
HP: 30, AC: 17, Init: +1
Krewis is 5’10” with brown hair and a long, thin scar down the left side of his face. He is a loyal and brave young man and although he serves under Terseon Skellerang, he is a fair-minded and understanding soldier. After a brief but fruitful adventuring experience, he started his new career to settle down and marry in Cauldron. Like all soldiers, Krewis must follow orders, but is also even minded. Krewis knows something is not right with the government of the city, but is unwilling to risk doing anything without solid proof.
Jax Belious (proprietor of the slippery eel tavern)
Human commoner lvl: 4
HP: 8, AC: 10, Init: 0
Jax is 5’4”, has light brown hair and a very crooked nose. A long time native of Caldron, few people know he was born in the capital city. He has run the Slippery Eel tavern for many years now and rents out rooms on the second and third floor to those willing to pay and put up with his overly critical observations. Rooms for rent run for 80-gp room and bored.
Halpeen Welvihk (proprietor of the drunken morkoth inn)
Human male expert lvl: 6
HP: 18, AC: 12, Init: +2
Halpeen came to Cauldron 25 years ago to fulfill her dream of opening up a great restaurant. She takes great pride in the drunken morkoth inn and it’s reputation as the best eatery on the west side (her main computation in town is the Coy Nixie on the east side). Halpeen is very well mannered, believing in winning people over with politeness. She is also going blind and is very nearsighted.
Pilok Minuta (proprietor of minuta’s board)
Human Male commoner lvl: 3
HP: 6, AC: 10, Init: 0
Pilok is a very sweaty, 5’5” man who was born poor. Through hard work, he skimped and saved enough to buy a rundown boarding house, which he named after himself. Pilok takes on all boarders so he can make enough money as fast as possible to get him out of the slums.
Rivek Mol (proprietor of the Tipped Tankard)
Human male Rogue1/expert4
HP: 14, AC: 11, Init: +1
Rivek is not only the owner of the Tipped Tankard but also an informant for the last laugh guild. He has a very easy going personality that he uses to make people as comfortable as possible and try to squeeze them for information that would be useful for his guild. He is a tall (6’1”), black man with a shinny baldhead.
Killiken Deldor (Works for Maavu as his money changer)
Gnome male Rogue4/expert4
HP: 27 AC: 18, Init +2
Killiken has worked for Maavu for a number of years and enjoys his job very much to the point that he has had magical reconstruction done on his eyes to help him perform his duties better. In all aspects he appears as a normal gnome except for his eyes, which are huge. His large eyes give him the abilities of a pair of Goggles of Minute Seeing, but with a +10 bonus instead of the standard +5. Killiken is a very efficient and precise in all aspects of life and finds people who think otherwise very annoying.
Phalian Gurnezarn (blacksmith and proprietor of Gurnezarn’s Smithy)
Human male Expert6
HP: 18, AC: 10, Init 0
Phalian is a large, burly man with a close cut beard and a broad smile. He loves to work his forge just as much as he loves to drink and tell stories at the local tavern. Unfortunately he has a very short attention span and needs to be reminded daily (if not more) about the projects he’s working on. Written notes and lists are useless because he cannot read or write.
Vortimax Weer (Alchemist and proprietor of Weer’s Elixirs)
Human male wizard10
HP: 22, AC: 12, Init: 0
Vortimax studded at the renowned magic college of Bigby’s Hall. He is a very civic minded individual and truly believes in the betterment of society through the distribution of magic and alchemy to the common man. Vortimax is always fidgeting with something and talks very fast, sometimes about nothing at all.
Bjellkir Zanathor (proprietor of Zanathor’s Provisions)
Human male commoner3
HP: 6, AC: 9, Init: -1
Bjellkir is getting old in life and spends most of his time in a park near his shop feeding (and talking to) the birds. He hangs a sign in the door telling people that he is there and when people come over to get him, he gives them the impression that there bothering him. Bjellkir has no family and few friends and is slowly becoming bitter with the fact that all he has is his shop. Bjellkir has white, wispy hair and stoops a little from his old age.
Kristof Jurgensen (Cleric at the Shrine of Pelor)
Human male cleric4
HP: 16, AC: 10, Init 0
Kristof, usually an upbeat and optimistic person, has started feeling the pressure of being thrust into the position of head cleric of the shrine of pelor. Kristof only has 2 other clerics to help now and if focused on the survival of the temple above all other things. Kristof is a young man that looks older from the constant stress of his new position. He has also started to drink quite a bit in order to try to get by. The new construction at the temple of Wee Jas has angered him so much that his sermons have taken on a more exasperated tone.
Asfelkir Hranleurt (high priest of the Temple of Lordly Might, Kord)
Half-orc claric9
HP: 45, AC: 20, Init: +4
Asfelkir sees everything in life as a test or computation. This trait brought him to the priesthood of kord and has helped him advance quite rapidly through the ranks. The glory of Kord is his main priority in his life right now and he will let nothing stop him in achieving his goals. Asfrlkir is overbearing and a little bit of a bully. He tries to use his position as high priest and his physical appearance (he’s 6’10”, 380lbs) to intimidate others to do what he wants.
Artus Shemwich (fence, information broker, and cook at Tipped Tankard)
Human male rogue7
HP: 23, AC: 14, Init: +2 (see “Flood Season, p43)
Artus is a fairly nondescript man in his early twenties, but this is mostly an act. He can turn on the charm with ease, and cleans up real nice when he wants to make an impression on an important client. Artus is loosely affiliated with the last laugh and he keeps track of his best customers.
Here's what my players had to say about the AP so far...
The tilt-a-pit traps in Jzadirune were awesome. The pit traps in the Malachite Hold were a pain in the @$$. (This means keep them!)
A beholder at first level? Oh crap, run!
Fighting Triel while she was naked in the bath was lame. A nice visual, but lame.
The cage going to the kopru ruin was one of the coolest things in the AP. (it broke on them while they were taking an unconscious Triel back up...she drowned in the slimy lake)
The ending to Smoking Eye was anticlimactic. (They suspected Kaurophon all along and he was not present at the finale)
The Soul Pillars were creepy and disturbing.
We need more places in Cauldron to buy good stuff and sell our loot. Travelling 200 miles to Sasserine sucks. (They visited Skie's only once and determined that her selection was crap so they never went back.)
Alakast is a great weapon. (Now it's a +1 holy evil outsider bane weapon in the hands of a weretiger ranger...quite handy.)
Fighting the Spawn of Kyuss was one of the scariest moments of the game.
What's a demodand?
So the Chisel AND the Striders are secret societies who don't really want to get involved? Who cares? (Although one of my players wants to join the Chisel and one of the dead PC's had his eyes on Strider membership.)
|
Creative Director
|
Another idea I just got:
How about having pics from the npcs on the hardcover? Ok, the "faces of Cauldron" pages are great, but a singel pic of a given npc would be far better. It would be so much easier to show it to the players...
I know, graphic issues are always a problem (space and what else...) but this would be great!
Agreed, and already in the works. If I remember correctly, everyone in those two Faces of Cauldron spreads are going to have their own head shot illos, including a fair amount of others as well. There were something like two dozen new head shots in the art order I turned over a week ago...
|
Creative Director
|
Mr. Jacobs, I did a little write up of some of the NPC, sometimes using some text straight from the books, sometimes using some characteristics from the DMG or just making it up my self. It proved quite helpful for me and another DM that I know who is running the AP. I had posted this same info in another thread and got some good feedback. Of course some of the stats change over time. If there is anything here that is helpful, you are more then welcome to use it in the HC. That goes for anyone else that would like to use this info.
Wow... nicely done!
There probably won't be room to give detailed descriptions like this for every named NPC in Cauldron, unfortunately. Plus, all those extra head shot illustrations we'll be adding in will help too...|
Creative Director
|
The tilt-a-pit traps in Jzadirune were awesome. The pit traps in the Malachite Hold were a pain in the @$$. (This means keep them!)
They're in. Slightly nerfed, but still painful and probably still deadly to fall into.
A beholder at first level? Oh crap, run!
You don't have to outrun the beholder. You just have to outrun your friends.
Fighting Triel while she was naked in the bath was lame. A nice visual, but lame.
This stays in; stuff like this helps to add to the impression that the NPCs do things other than spend all day long preparing an action to attack the next person to come through their door. Plus, it awards PCs who successfully sneak into the Ebon Triad hideout without raising an alarm an award in that they don't have to fight one of the tougher NPCs in the area when she's fully armored and ready to kill PCs. Of course... if the alarm goes off, Triel certainly won't stay in the tub...
The cage going to the kopru ruin was one of the coolest things in the AP. (it broke on them while they were taking an unconscious Triel back up...she drowned in the slimy lake)
Serves her right for hanging out with werebaboons. Maybe she can come back to torment the PCs later as a sea zombie?
The ending to Smoking Eye was anticlimactic. (They suspected Kaurophon all along and he was not present at the finale)
I'll see what I can do to make this work better, althgouh I'm not sure how much more of a climax I can make it. Even if the PCs don't have a fight in the last room, they end up pretty much inheriting control of a layer of the Abyss. That's pretty epic stuff.
The Soul Pillars were creepy and disturbing.
Yup. Jesse Decker knows creepy.
We need more places in Cauldron to buy good stuff and sell our loot. Travelling 200 miles to Sasserine sucks. (They visited Skie's only once and determined that her selection was crap so they never went back.)
I'm strongly considering upping Cauldron's size & population to the next category (small city), which would give it a gp limit of 15,000 gp. When we originally started the Adventure Path, we assumed that the campaign was going to shift focus to Sasserine for the mid-level and some of the higher level adventures, and thus wanted to keep Cauldron small so that when the PCs get to the "big city" in the later adventrues that big city would be more impressive.
As it turned out, the authors fell in love with Cauldron. It's just too visually interesting a city to leave untouched, I guess. Unfortunately, this means that once the party hits mid-level, there's no reason really to stay in town aside from the fact that the adventures happen there. Having to make regular trips to the big city to buy stuff throws the pacing of the campaign off. If you can buy 15,000 gp items in town, you won't need to travel to bigger cities till around 11th level or so, by which point teleport makes shopping trips like this much easier.Skie's selection will now ramp up as the campaign grows, since the Stormblades and the Necrocants and other adventuring parties will be selling her loot as well as time goes on. It'd be cool if at the end of each new adventure the PCs went to Skie's to see what new items have come in, and even better, it'd be cool if there was always something there that they wanted but couldn't quite yet afford to buy.
Alakast is a great weapon. (Now it's a +1 holy evil outsider bane weapon in the hands of a weretiger ranger...quite handy.)
I'll probably buff it up a little more so it can get throgh Nabthataron's DR.
Fighting the Spawn of Kyuss was one of the scariest moments of the game.
Cool. As it should be. Since this encounter ties in quite well to the new Age of Worms Adventure Path...
What's a demodand?
One of the goals of this Adventure Path is to answer this question and make sure players never again need to wonder what a demodand is. Cause they're pretty cool villains.
So the Chisel AND the Striders are secret societies who don't really want to get involved? Who cares? (Although one of my players wants to join the Chisel and one of the dead PC's had his eyes on Strider membership.)
They're more involved in things in the HC. The Chisel will be there to support good (and arcanist) PCs and the Striders to support neutral (and nature-loving) PCs. There's gonna be a new prestige class for the Striders, and the prestige class for the Chisel is going to get reworked a little to make it more attractive to adventurers. Hopefully in the HC these organizations will be more attractive to PCs as groups to join or ally with.
A beholder at first level? Oh crap, run!You don't have to outrun the beholder. You just have to outrun your friends.
That, sir, is plain evil
OK I'll be starting my new campaign on July-9th. I will be running the AP but mixing in Incursion s well. Since the release date is July you got 9 days to publish it and get it to my doorstep ;)
I already preordered it to show support for the product.
|
I can't wait for this book to arrive. I am running two campaigns thorugh the Adventure Path (both of them still in Life's Bazaar) and I am eager to impart the additional information into the campaign.
*** wringing my hands, waiting to get his hands on the book ***
Two things:
- Lord Vhalantru took the place on the Town Council of the family Tercival. Was he responsible for the tragic misfortune that hit the family? Or perhaps Lord Taskerhill? In my campaigns Alek Tercival was not in town, when these things happened. He (she) was away on training duties to become the Paladin of St. Cuthbert we know.
- Both my groups took a caravan to Cauldron. One met the paladin and some acolytes accompanying Sarcem Delasharn on his way to get the wands, the other accompanied the group as they were heading back to Cauldron. At the Lucky Monkey Alek got "new information" about the whereabouts of his lost brother (tragic events - see above) and went off in the direction of the Demonskar. (Dream of Adimarchus - mistaken for a Sending or a vision of St. Cuthbert)
|
|
...Two things:
- Lord Vhalantru took the place on the Town Council of the family Tercival. Was he responsible for the tragic misfortune that hit the family? Or perhaps Lord Taskerhill? In my campaigns Alek Tercival was not in town, when these things happened. He (she) was away on training duties to become the Paladin of St. Cuthbert we know.
- Both my groups took a caravan to Cauldron. One met the paladin and some acolytes accompanying Sarcem Delasharn on his way to get the wands, the other accompanied the group as they were heading back to Cauldron. At the Lucky Monkey Alek got "new information" about the whereabouts of his lost brother (tragic events - see above) and went off in the direction of the Demonskar. (Dream of Adimarchus -...
Foreshadowing is great, and you did a good job here! My players like it, if they have those moments of recognition!".
Letting your players meet Sacrem on the way to get the wands is a cool idea, and I will borrow this (if you don't mind ;) for the next time, when run those adventures!|
|
Foreshadowing is great, and I will borrow this (if...
sure... go ahead..
One of the players in the second group is a female half-orc resident of Cauldron (in charge of a quarry on the outside of the city). She was brought in helping "Patch" who is afraid of losing his job, because the children have been abducted. Upon encountering the prophecy she went directly to a fellow old dwarven miner to find out about everything under Cauldron. He was responsible closing off the main entrances to Jzadirune and the Malachite Fortress and told her about the Vanishing and the March of Zenith Splintershield, he also mentioned those pesky Kobold Caves. (And I will introduce the Stormblades later, after they have dealt with the threat of those caves).
In the other group the formation of the Stormblades was witnessed by a female priest of Myrrhis and Fario in the Drunken Morkoth. As they were going upstairs to have a more private conversation, Todd Vanderboren made some rascist remarks about her, having to seek out a pointy eared fellow for amusement... the dwarf Tycho Amberhelm (i.e. Meerthen Eliothorn in disguise) stepped in. And Cora held young Vanderboren back.
The mood for the first encounter with them is set :-)
Do you want to know more ?
(http://sir-ollibolli.serverbox.org:8668/space/start is the main page of my site for my campaigns, but it is completely in German. There you will find the protocols and diaries from both groups...)
One of the most useful sections of the entire Shackled City series was the 'who sent the assassins' section in Soul Pillars. The way the author listed all the options open to the party to investigate and what they'd find out thru that source was exactly the kind of stuff I look for in a published adventure (and doubt I could've come up with all that on my own). It really put the party on a proactive ("air quotes") footing.
I'd like to see that same kind of scenario used in the other investigation areas, rather than just having Jenya show up saying "Hey, Lord Vhalantru's really a beholder...".
A couple areas that *really* need an investigation section are how the PCs find Karan Kural in Soul Pillars and how in the world does anybody figure out Vhalantru is actually a villain in LoO. I'd also like to see the PCs come up with a location for the Tree of Shackled Souls rather than just being pointed there by Jenya.
As for Karan Kural, I've moved the Spellweaver lab to the Demonskar both to limit the number of forgotten civilizations under Cauldron and to reconnect it with the destroyed Spellweaver city. Left to my own devices, I might have letters found in the Wee Jas cathedral make a vague reference to the hags or fire giant craftsmen or something that will send a now-more powerful party back to the survivors of the Demonskar Legacy to intimidate them into revealing where Karan Kural is. In any case, I'd hope the party's past experience with Spellweaver ruins would be the key to helping them decipher the ruins to point to the new place. In a pinch, I'm thinking of letting the party continue to use the guiding lantern they got from Smoking Eye letting them re-cast locate the path or whatever on the thing to help them find the way.
I'm really stuck with the Vhalantru reveal in Oblivion, though. I'd especially like to see the party go to Oblivion not knowing Vhalantru was a beholder and somehow witnessing his transformation from elf to aberation. Hopefully we'll get that same oh-#)%*& value we got from his first appearance in Life's Bazaar. There've got to be some clues at Thrifirane's house that point to him, but I couldn't guess what that might be.
I'm a little vague as far as the spells work in Thirteen Cages that limit the PC's abilities to locate the lair thru magic. My back-up plan for leading the party to the tree is to have them realize that, if Vhalantru is the beholder, and the beholder took Terem in episode I, then maybe they could track Terem magically. Big shrug on this one, but it really lets the party use past experiences to solve current problems.
Any other thoughts for solving these mysteries? Any other areas you all think need more player involvement?
I just ran part of LoO last night and noticed a few things that I haven't seen covered in this thread...
The half-orc guards in House Vhalantru and House Rhiavadi have the Improved Critical (orc double-axe) feat but it's not figured into the stat block. And something that bugs me, but it's not really a core rule, is that orcs and half-orcs don't have weapon familiarity like the other standard races do for racial weapons, forcing them to spend a feat to use the orc double-axe. I know it's not an error in the adventure, but it still bugs me. I house rule in favor of PC's who want to play orcs and half-orcs.
In House Vhalantru, there are supposed to be 3 spirit nagas who attack when the PC's are exploring the aviary. It doesn't specify that the nagas are all in the aviary, which is roughly a 15' diameter octagon shape, but even if they're spread out on the second floor of the house, they'll still have to squeeze through the 5' wide hallways and somehow bypass the closed doors (even though nagas don't have hands) to get at the PC's. Not the most efficient of guardians if you ask me.
I think it was mentioned as being cut due to space limitations, but a little better description of the rest of the two houses would be nice, instead of a master room list and a few fleshed out areas where the action might happen.
I also saw mention in another post on this thread that the haraknin fighters in Oblivion have no way to maneuver up and down the shafts. They also don't have any way to bypass the locks on the Oblivion doors, so even if they each had Boots of Levitation or something, it wouldn't help them get around any better since they can't get out of the area containing O7, O10, and O11. Those doors are going to play holy hell with my arcane magic-free party.
Something else that would be nice, but isn't really a big deal, would be a few standard guard NPC's to use since all the NPC stats in the DMG are made up of different races than the humans and half-orcs in the town guard. Maybe just a stat block for each of the different types, or at least some hit points, attack bonuses, and AC instead of a full-on stat block.
|
Creative Director
|
A couple areas that *really* need an investigation section are how the PCs find Karan Kural in Soul Pillars and how in the world does anybody figure out Vhalantru is actually a villain in LoO. I'd also like to see the PCs come up with a location for the Tree of Shackled Souls rather than just being pointed there by Jenya.
Agreed. There's going to be a large section in the book's introduction that outlines how the PCs can research information about Vhalantru, the Cagewrights, the Striders, Adimiarchus, the Chisel, and everything else in the campaign's plot.
As for having Jenya start the PCs on so many of the adventrues... that was as much a simple way to start the adventure as a one-shot as anything else. In the hardcover, concessions to running specific adventures as one-shots aren't necessary, so it's easier to assume the PCs can operate on info learned in earlier adventures. All of which is a complex way of saying once the PCs get back from Occipitus, they'll pretty much be on their own as far as what to do next.
As for Karan Kural, I've moved the Spellweaver lab to the Demonskar both to limit the number of forgotten civilizations under Cauldron and to reconnect it with the destroyed Spellweaver city.
This is actually a really great idea. I considered making the kopru ruins spell-weaver ruins to limit the number of forgotten civilizations as well, but unfortunately we have art for the kopru ruins already, and the architecture of the map's all wrong for spellweaver ruins, and there's just not enoguh time to make such extensive revisions as this would have required. Moving Karan Kural out of Cauldron and off to the Demonskar is a much more graceful way to handle this problem.
I'm really stuck with the Vhalantru reveal in Oblivion, though. I'd especially like to see the party go to Oblivion not knowing Vhalantru was a beholder and somehow witnessing his transformation from elf to aberation. Hopefully we'll get that same oh-#)%*& value we got from his first appearance in Life's Bazaar. There've got to be some clues at Thrifirane's house that point to him, but I couldn't guess what that might be.
I agree here as well. Lords of Oblivion was probably the adventure to suffer the most from the "no room in the magazine" curse, so hopefully I'll have time to reintroduce a lot of the elements we had to cut back on... one of which was a cooler way to reveal who and what Vhalantru really was.
I'm a little vague as far as the spells work in Thirteen Cages that limit the PC's abilities to locate the lair thru magic. My back-up plan for leading the party to the tree is to have them realize that, if Vhalantru is the beholder, and the beholder took Terem in episode I, then maybe they could track Terem magically. Big shrug on this one, but it really lets the party use past experiences to solve current problems.
The Fiery Sanctum's got all those spells to block location magic because it's the lynchpin of the Cagewright plan. They'd go the extra mile to make sure the place is warded and difficult, if not impossible, to find via magic. That said, I'll be introducing clues as to where the Fiery Sanctum is for the PCs in Lords of Oblivion.
|
Creative Director
|
The half-orc guards in House Vhalantru and House Rhiavadi have the Improved Critical (orc double-axe) feat but it's not figured into the stat block. And something that bugs me, but it's not really a core rule, is that orcs and half-orcs don't have weapon familiarity like the other standard races do for racial weapons, forcing them to spend a feat to use the orc double-axe. I know it's not an error in the adventure, but it still bugs me. I house rule in favor of PC's who want to play orcs and half-orcs.
Will fix. The Improved Crit ommission, not the unfortunate half-orc lack of weapon familiarity. The overall suckness of the half-orc is something I really wish I had the power to change, actually. Oh well.
In House Vhalantru, there are supposed to be 3 spirit nagas who attack when the PC's are exploring the aviary. It doesn't specify that the nagas are all in the aviary, which is roughly a 15' diameter octagon shape, but even if they're spread out on the second floor of the house, they'll still have to squeeze through the 5' wide hallways and somehow bypass the closed doors (even though nagas don't have hands) to get at the PC's. Not the most efficient of guardians if you ask me.
True. I'll be replacing the spirit nagas with something else, I think. Probably monsters that Vhalantru had experimented with transforming into tarterean creatures before he went through with the experiment on himself.
Ugh. The fact that big worms and snakes can't really fit through narrow areas is another of my pet peeves of the game...
I think it was mentioned as being cut due to space limitations, but a little better description of the rest of the two houses would be nice, instead of a master room list and a few fleshed out areas where the action might happen.
If there's time... this'll go in. Room descriptions were actually never written for these other areas, since we'd already ordered the maps for that adventure before we got the final draft in. Chris Perkins did a great job covering the info in the word count we cruelly constrained him to, though. It'll be nice to get a little bit of description back in, even if the descriptions are brief (as was the case for much of the Lucky Monkey, which had similar space issues).
I also saw mention in another post on this thread that the haraknin fighters in Oblivion have no way to maneuver up and down the shafts. They also don't have any way to bypass the locks on the Oblivion doors, so even if they each had Boots of Levitation or something, it wouldn't help them get around any better since they can't get out of the area containing O7, O10, and O11. Those doors are going to play holy hell with my arcane magic-free party.
I've got a few ideas on how to fix this, but they'll have to be a suprise for a cool plot twist I'm introducing into this part of the campaign. HINT: It strengthens the links between "Lords of Oblivion" and "Zenith Trajectory."
Something else that would be nice, but isn't really a big deal, would be a few standard guard NPC's to use since all the NPC stats in the DMG are made up of different races than the humans and half-orcs in the town guard. Maybe just a stat block for each of the different types, or at least some hit points, attack bonuses, and AC instead of a full-on stat block.
There'll be a few of these in the book. Which reminds me of something that I'll put in another post (it'll be about how we handle stat blocks in the book).
Since I already have all the Shackled City issues of Dungeon (some of which I ordered back-issue), I wasn't originally going to get the hardcover version. However, hearing some of the changes James is planning on making to the series, and in general just because he's been so cool listening to the readers, I'm near changing my mind. Then I happened to take a gander at the preorder for the book on the Paizo store.
60-Bucks!! Dang! There's no way I can justify $60 bucks for an adventure I already own all the chapters to, no matter how much better it's going to be to the original. I still haven't bought the 3.5 ed rulebooks for the same reason.
For what it's worth, James, I really respect and appreciate the work you guys are doing for this collected release, but there's no way I can buy into that. Any chance of releasing a smaller version listing just the changes and additions for those of us that already own the series and are only interested in the changes and not the whole shebang. It wouldn't have to have any maps in it at all (although the headshot illustrations you mentioned would still be welcome). I could be conned into dropping $15 or so for a .pdf of all the updates...
|
Creative Director
|
I can say with certainty that we aren't going to release a smaller version of the revised Shackled City Adventure Path that lists just the changes and additions that are going into the hardcover version of the book.
Frankly, the thought of putting something like that together horrifies me—I certainly wouldn't volunteer to do it! The changes and additions I'm making to the campaign aren't really "plug and play" changes; they're woven into the fabric of the text. Pulling them out and organizing them into a product that makes sense would take months.
The primary target audience for this product is not those who've collected all 11 issues of the Shackled City. Once those issues are sold out, there'll be no way for new players to get ahold of the complete campaign. This hardcover version of the adventure is for them, and for the numerous D&D players who haven't even yet heard of Cauldron.
The $60.00 price tag may indeed seem steep, but when you factor in the size of the book, the fact that it's in full color, and comes with a fold-out map and a sizable map booklet, $60.00 actually starts to seem like a bargain. In any case, that $60 price tag is just the MSRP. I'm sure that once the book is out, there'll be plenty of places to get it (online in particular) that'll cost less.
I can say with certainty that we aren't going to release a smaller version of the revised Shackled City Adventure Path that lists just the changes and additions that are going into the hardcover version of the book.
That makes sense to me. I didn't really think it was doable, I was just trying to think of a way I could support this project. Maybe I can think of some good fixes to the mods that somebody hasn't already suggested, but that's not really my strong suit either.
Ah well, keep up the good work and good luck.
Oh my goodness, I killed the thread with my greedy, penny-pinching ways.
Feel free to ignore me and get on with the discussion.
Oh my goodness, I killed the thread with my greedy, penny-pinching ways.
Feel free to ignore me and get on with the discussion.
yep it's pretty much all you. Now if the hardcover is going to suck, we'll all know who to blame. :-)