James,
Vitriss Bale (Dracolich) has two initiative listings. One is at +0 and the other is +1. In addition he is listed as only having DR5/bludgeoning and magic and if I am correct in the Draconimicon it should be DR15/magic and DR5/bludgeoning.
In addition to that, the phylactery should be listed in the aura section of room K18 Tomb of the Bone Dragon as the last lines states that phylactery is magical (exact wording is - If the phylactery is destroyed or RENDERED NONMAGIC).
Hope these help.
Creative Director
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Thanks! I fixed the double initiative errror (good eye, Strachan!).
Bale's DR is correct... the sample dracolich from Draconomicon is an ancient blue so that's where he's getting his DR 15/magic. Bale's just an adult green so he only gets DR 5/magic.
We aren't presenting the adventures with the aura info, so the last error about the missing phylactery aura will fix itself.
We aren't presenting the adventures with the aura info, so the last error about the missing phylactery aura will fix itself.
I am REALLY disappointed that won't be in there. I actually thought that was one of the great things about the adventures. All the aura info was right in front of me and it has been uber handy. Right now I have a wizard with arcane sight so having the aura info right in front of me speeds of play a great deal.
Why are they being removed? Other than space I can't see any logical reason behind it. If others find this useful please chime in as I would rather see them in.
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Creative Director
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Space is the main reason they're being removed—there's simply not enough room in the adventure to include this information. That's why we stopped including them in the magazine. At low levels, a single encounter area's Light/Sound/Reaction/Auras would take up 4 lines of text, minimum. Check out the section on page 19 of issue #109 for the Assassins encounter. That section takes up a quarter of a page. Many of the encounters later in the campaign are with significantly more complex characters in rooms with numerous magic auras. The encounter with Thifirane and her allies in "Lords of Oblivion" would probably take up more than a page on its own!
In the end, not including this information in issue #114's Thirteen Cages saved us 5 pages of content—and as a result the Light/Sound/Reaction/Auras sections were ultimately abandoned as just an inefficient way to present redundant information. By not including these sections in the hardcover, we're able to restore dozens of pages of material that we were forced to cut for space before, or add new material to help you run the campaign as a whole.
A secondary factor is that generating that information takes an agonizingly long amount of time, and quite frankly, there's just not enough time in the production schedule for us (as in, me) to add this info in to the 6 adventrues that don't have it.
That's understnadable however the most useful part of the quick refference part is the Reaction secion so that we i'm doing a quick scan over the room as my party has entered it i know the reaction that could occure from them entering or making sounds ect... But it makes sence...
James,
Since the majority of the info for the auras have been created already could we at least request a web enhancement download for the book that includes this info? And while on the topic of web enhancements are there plans for anything else to appear on the web site for the Shackled City adventure path?
PS - As a reader of the magazine, the format of these adventures helped greatly and I would love to see that info posted on the web site for each magazine if it can't be included. It makes running an adventure so much more convenient and I suspect it was one of the reasons people were drawn to the adventures...
Thanks James.
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I have to admit- the Aura strength was interesting, but the Sounds and Reactions were very impressive to me- I don't run many pre-made adventures, as the above two sections really helped connect the adventure site into a cohesive, active location for me (it felt that two parties could enter and achieve v. different results- esp. if a stealthy group were to try this adventure path).
I know space is limited, as is time, but I agree that a web enhancement would be wonderful.