These aren't really major and I can make it up as I go, but I'd still like to ask a few questions about some things from TINH.
In Rowyn's quarters the description mentions a crystal ball with a smoky red light at the core, yet I didn't see this isn't expanded upon anywhere. My players jumped all over that item. What is this supposed to be?
What is the value of the silver lanterns described in Rowyn's quarters?
Is the wand of animate dead a divine or arcane wand?
Who will be taking Keltar Islaran's place as the Harbormaster and Azure District Representative?
Would there be any resale value at all of the picture of the Sasserine harbor with all of the ships flying the Lotus Dragon flags?
Has anyone come up with a picture of what the Spire of Sasserine medal would look like?
An interesting aside, my players not only gave Lavinia back her money but also gave the rest back to the Dawn Council as well. How would you handle this?
Hmm... What level of summon monster is required to get a "James Jacobs" to answer your questions? ;P
something epic I'd assume.
and I can make it up as I go
I think you answered all of the questions before you asked them, except for the third one.
I'd say it depends on who made it, although in a friend's campaign I hear all of their wands are designated neither.
These aren't really major and I can make it up as I go, but I'd still like to ask a few questions about some things from TINH.
In Rowyn's quarters the description mentions a crystal ball with a smoky red light at the core, yet I didn't see this isn't expanded upon anywhere. My players jumped all over that item. What is this supposed to be?
It's a lava lamp, basically. No value. If you want, you can replace it with something cool of your own invention; I wanted to make it an Orb of Wyvernkind (basically, a lesser version of the Orbs of Dragonkind artifacts, not a legitimate part of the set but nevertheless a worthy successor to
What is the value of the silver lanterns described in Rowyn's quarters?
Silver presumably applies to the color of the laterns, not the actual metal. If you want to make them actual valuable-silver lanterns, they weigh about 2 pounds each, so if we suppose half of that is metal, that means they are worth 5gp each.
Is the wand of animate dead a divine or arcane wand?
It is coincidentally suitable for the character who seems most interested in having it.
Who will be taking Keltar Islaran's place as the Harbormaster and Azure District Representative?
I would suppose the lesser noble families, including the Vanderborens and the Kellanis, will viciously fight for possession of the position, or at least the right to hand-pick the occupant of that position.
An interesting aside, my players not only gave Lavinia back her money but also gave the rest back to the Dawn Council as well. How would you handle this?
Affiliation++ for the Dawn Council, officially. Lavinia has enough money after getting her stuff back to contract some useful magic items for her heroes; pick out some decent items that perfectly match the characters and will end up being surprisingly useful in the next two adventures. I selected some magic items from around 2,000-3,000gp for each character, but you might make this more or less depending on what you think they'll need.
Creative Director
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In Rowyn's quarters the description mentions a crystal ball with a smoky red light at the core, yet I didn't see this isn't expanded upon anywhere. My players jumped all over that item. What is this supposed to be?
Yeah, it's basically a lava lamp. Something Rowyn thought would spice up her wall, but isn't worth that much in the long run. Feel free to make it something more sinister if you want, but it has no impact on the rest of the Adventure Path as written.
What is the value of the silver lanterns described in Rowyn's quarters?
Same as for normal lanterns. There's not enough silver in them to raise their cost really.
Is the wand of animate dead a divine or arcane wand?
Your choice. Personally, in my campaign, I do away with the difference. If it's on your spell list, you can use it no matter what source the magic is from. Tracking divine vs. arcane sources for scrolls and wands and such is needless clutter that doesn't help the game, rules or flavor-wise.
Who will be taking Keltar Islaran's place as the Harbormaster and Azure District Representative?
It'll probably revert to the Dawn Council and they'll eventually vote in a new person/family. If the Kellanis can get away with it (as in, the PCs haven't spread the word that they're bad), they'll get it. Otherwise it might go to a neighboring noble.
Would there be any resale value at all of the picture of the Sasserine harbor with all of the ships flying the Lotus Dragon flags?
Not really. There's already a lot of treasure in the adventure. If you want, you could maybe make it worth 100 gp or something like that.
Has anyone come up with a picture of what the Spire of Sasserine medal would look like?
If someone has, I'd love to see! :)
An interesting aside, my players not only gave Lavinia back her money but also gave the rest back to the Dawn Council as well. How would you handle this?
By giving them an extra XP award for good role-play... assuming the PCs are all lawful or good. I'd also probably give them a gp kickback of a few hundred per PC as a reward, probably.
Is the wand of animate dead a divine or arcane wand?Your choice. Personally, in my campaign, I do away with the difference. If it's on your spell list, you can use it no matter what source the magic is from. Tracking divine vs. arcane sources for scrolls and wands and such is needless clutter that doesn't help the game, rules or flavor-wise.
I've found that this comes up more with bards, especially for cure spells, as an arcane cure spell (the bard's version) would have to have the appropriate, and higher, CL and cost. But regarding a wand of animate dead, it seems irrelevant. I mean, c'mon, when was the last time you saw a bard cause the dead to rise from the grave and start dancing with him?
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..."'cause this is Thriller!"
Where does it specify that wands are divided into divine and arcane? No mention of this distinction is made in the discussion of wands (DMG 245), whereas the discussion of scrolls (DMG 238, 1st column, last paragraph) specifies that scrolls are divided into divine and arcane and that you can only use the type that corresponds to the source of your magic. Wands activate by the spell-trigger method. On DMG 213 it says of items using this method of activation: "anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell-trigger item that stores that spell." This would seem to indicate that a bard can pick up a wand of cure light wounds and cast the spell, regardless of who made the wand. I have always played this way, anyhow--in my AoW campaign the paladin, the bard, and the cleric are always passing cure wounds wands back and forth, and there would have been at least 2 TPKs so far if I hadn't let them.
I'm inclined to agree with James that the divine/arcane distinction in scrolls is also a needless complication that could be excised from the rules with no significant game effect. You already have to decipher the scroll before you can make use of it, and it seems to me that read magic (or spellcraft) should be able to cross the divine/arcane boundary just as easily as it can cross the boundary between the magical writings of divine worshippers of different deities or the druid/cleric divide. The spell still has to be on your spell list, so it's not like you're letting wizards cast cure spells anyhow. (At least not without a UMD check). So I don't see that it would unbalance the game to do away with the divine/arcane distinction for magic items, and it would remove one more small book-keeping headache for the DM.
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Creative Director
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I'm 95% sure that wands don't care if they're divine or arcane, actually. That's one of the differences, I think, between spell-trigger items (like wands) and spell-completion items (like scrolls).
The only reason I'm not 100% sure is that not so long ago, I was also 100% sure that scrolls didn't care either. In my campaign, they still don't.
Where does it specify that wands are divided into divine and arcane? No mention of this distinction is made in the discussion of wands (DMG 245), whereas the discussion of scrolls (DMG 238, 1st column, last paragraph) specifies that scrolls are divided into divine and arcane and that you can only use the type that corresponds to the source of your magic. Wands activate by the spell-trigger method. On DMG 213 it says of items using this method of activation: "anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell-trigger item that stores that spell." This would seem to indicate that a bard can pick up a wand of cure light wounds and cast the spell, regardless of who made the wand. I have always played this way, anyhow--in my AoW campaign the paladin, the bard, and the cleric are always passing cure wounds wands back and forth, and there would have been at least 2 TPKs so far if I hadn't let them.
I'm inclined to agree with James that the divine/arcane distinction in scrolls is also a needless complication that could be excised from the rules with no significant game effect. You already have to decipher the scroll before you can make use of it, and it seems to me that read magic (or spellcraft) should be able to cross the divine/arcane boundary just as easily as it can cross the boundary between the magical writings of divine worshippers of different deities or the druid/cleric divide. The spell still has to be on your spell list, so it's not like you're letting wizards cast cure spells anyhow. (At least not without a UMD check). So I don't see that it would unbalance the game to do away with the divine/arcane distinction for magic items, and it would remove one more small book-keeping headache for the DM.
A-ha! I think you're right. Sorry. I was thinking of scrolls, as well. Spell trigger vs. spell completion...spell trigger vs. spell completion...write fifty times on chalkboard.
The only reason I'm not 100% sure is that not so long ago, I was also 100% sure that scrolls didn't care either. In my campaign, they still don't.
I think the big stink about scrolls started once Artificers began cranking them out like Pez dispensers.
The only thing that is really different is the cost of the wand. The arcane wand would be more expensive since animate dead is a higher level spell for sorcerers and wizards (and would thus cost them more to create).
The only thing that is really different is the cost of the wand. The arcane wand would be more expensive since animate dead is a higher level spell for sorcerers and wizards (and would thus cost them more to create).
Quite a lot more, as it also allows the animation of more HD of undead. And each HD of undead animated requires 25 gp of black onyx, which must be included at creation and increases the price of the wand.
A divine animate dead is Spell level 3, CL 5 at minimum. Each of the 50 charges can animate 10 HD of undead. This means the material component cost of each charge is 250 gp. Add the 11250 for the wand, and you get a final price of 23,750 gp for a fully charged wand of animate dead. IIR the wand found here was not fully charged, but even so each charge is worth 475 gp. Quite a prize at this level.