During the fight with Erylium, my players were having a heck of a time trying to deal with her. At first the archer and spellcaster were trying to ready an action to shoot/cast on her the minute she started "casting" her invisibility to disrupt it, but didn't understand why they couldn't until they realized it wasn't an actual spell. After a while of Erylium hiding invisibly and casting indirect spells (summon monster, etc.) on the party, the cleric got an idea and used Detect Magic. After three rounds he was able to pinpoint where she was and called out the general area to the Bard, who dropped Faerie Fire on the area. Being lit up like a Christmas tree, the next round was a blood frenzy as the Bard pulled her out of the air with his whip, the Barbarian literally did a wrestling dive off of the balcony to smash/pin her, and everyone else stabbed her so far into the negatives she became a pasty smear on the floor. Full health to dead in one round.
During the fight with Erylium, my players were having a heck of a time trying to deal with her. At first the archer and spellcaster were trying to ready an action to shoot/cast on her the minute she started "casting" her invisibility to disrupt it, but didn't understand why they couldn't until they realized it wasn't an actual spell. After a while of Erylium hiding invisibly and casting indirect spells (summon monster, etc.) on the party, the cleric got an idea and used Detect Magic. After three rounds he was able to pinpoint where she was and called out the general area to the Bard, who dropped Faerie Fire on the area. Being lit up like a Christmas tree, the next round was a blood frenzy as the Bard pulled her out of the air with his whip, the Barbarian literally did a wrestling dive off of the balcony to smash/pin her, and everyone else stabbed her so far into the negatives she became a pasty smear on the floor. Full health to dead in one round.
The barbarin in my group did a similar thing. The got her surrounded on the top level and he sucessfully grappled her so he tried to move her into the rune well to drown her and damage her. (This was a second battle with her, the first time she fled and they learned that the well would cause dmg from touching it.) However they well only had enough wrath points left to cause a rage one last time and so it caused her to rage and then the waters vanished after dealing both her and the barbarian damage. I ruled the top of the room filled with steam that acted as an obscuring mist for a few rounds. The barbarin still intent on drowning her leaped and dragged her from the top level into the pool in the center of the cathedral where the rest of the part flocked to help him keep her underwater till she drownd.
Okay, I've got one: wouldn't the runewell in the catacombs of wrath have a magic aura? Would it be a strong one due to the caster level, or weak because it's nearly tapped out?
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This has been asked a couple of times but has not been answered. Under "Before Combat", it says that Erylium will be invisible. However, in the encounter, it has her ranting at the PC's and she must be visible because there is a 'sense motive' check. So, is she invisible then turns visible when they enter to rant, cut, drip, etc.?
Okay, this has been a question that's been gnawing at me for a while now, and I can't seem to find a good answer.
The Runewell below Sandpoint is tied to Wrath. Erylium was once familiar to one of the generals of Wrath, and took over his "job" after his death, so Erylium also works for the side of Wrath. Xanesha is an agent of Karzaug, the runelord of Greed. She has manipulated the Skinsaw men, including Ironbriar, to help in her goals, so the Skinsaw men are also (unwittingly) working towards Greed. The Skinsaw men (Specifically Ironbriar, if i remember) then find and give aid to Nualia, including a Sihedron medallion, to assist her on her quest to burn down Sandpoint, and fill the runewell of WRATH. Nualia then goes out and is taken under Erylium's wing and tutored, so to speak.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Nualia was being helped by the agents of Greed to assist in the machinations of Wrath? Or is Nualia a "Double agent" between the two? I'm not sure that's even possible, since Nualia has limited knowledge on whats going on with the Runelords, she's just a pawn in the entire thing. The entire book of Burnt Offerings is tied to Wrath, but then skips over into Greed without explaining why.
I'm very confused about how this is supposed to mesh together, storyline wise. I think that perhaps it was just an oversight by the writers between books one and two?
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(snip)Is it just me, or does it seem like Nualia was being helped by the agents of Greed to assist in the machinations of Wrath? Or is Nualia a "Double agent" between the two? I'm not sure that's even possible, since Nualia has limited knowledge on whats going on with the Runelords, she's just a pawn in the entire thing. The entire book of Burnt Offerings is tied to Wrath, but then skips over into Greed without explaining why.
I'm very confused about how this is supposed to mesh together, storyline wise. I think that perhaps it was just an oversight by the writers between books one and two?
Nualia and now Erylium are direct servants of Lamashtu first and foremost, not servants of any Runelord, except accidentally.
Nualia came to have the Sihedron mediallion (that Karzoug knows nothing about) because the Skinsaw Men "saw her as a kindred spirit" after she murdered her ex-boyfriend in Magnimar. Perhaps the plan was to draw her into their (the Skinsaw Mens') web eventually but there is no implication that she was aware of their plans with respect to the ritual murders and the mark of the sihedron as it goes in the following adventures.
im just about to start running this adventure series and was trying to find out if theres an errata for burnt offerings, and the rest of the runelord modules that has alll the npc/monster conversions from 3.5 to actual pathfinder rules.
ran through most of the posts here but most of them predate the PFCRB and PF beastiary publish dates.
I don't believe such a document has been produced, at least not by Paizo. Luckily, conversion isn't too bad. Of course, you could just use the first few mods as is...frankly, they're pretty tough on PCs, so it might not hurt for them to be a little easier than normal.
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So I'm prepping everything for the ROTRL Burnt Offerings sessions within the Glassworks and Catacombs of Wrath. I'm a little confused as to what will happen in Tsuto manages to escape. The book details how, if being overwhelmed, Tsuto will retreat to the Smuggler's Tunnels and head for Thistletop. How does he get out, exactly? The tunnel that leads down to the coast is caved in, as is the staircase within the Catacombs that leads up to sandpoint. If he runs down there he's trapping himself. The only thing I can think of, is him running down to the Catacombs, stealthing, and then sneaking past the party while they're down there being pre-occupied by the Sinspawn and mutated goblin beasties. Am I missing something?
I accidently made a new thread instead of posting here initially...sorry about that....
You are missing one thing, yes.
The smuggler's tunnel that leads to the cave near the cliffs works just fine. It appears to be a dead end, but there is a secret door at the end of it that opens into the smuggler's cave.
The tunnel that is caved-in once led to Turandarok River, and the one that is bricked over leads to the Catacombs.
So, as long as he chooses to go to the smuggler's cave, everything is fine :)
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You are missing one thing, yes.
The smuggler's tunnel that leads to the cave near the cliffs works just fine. It appears to be a dead end, but there is a secret door at the end of it that opens into the smuggler's cave.
The tunnel that is caved-in once led to Turandarok River, and the one that is bricked over leads to the Catacombs.
So, as long as he chooses to go to the smuggler's cave, everything is fine :)
Sweet, thank you. The book was out of print and I have a hard time reading via PDF so I missed it, clearly.
The other things I finally remembered to ask is about was the quasit. She's listed in the entry as a level 3 Thaumaturge, but what's the PF equivilent to that? Or do I even need to worry about it?
And there have been some inquiries as to the Leadership feat from my players. Are there possibilities pre-written in the future chapters or will I need to plan on creating non-plot tied npcs for this purpose?
The other things I finally remembered to ask is about was the quasit. She's listed in the entry as a level 3 Thaumaturge, but what's the PF equivilent to that? Or do I even need to worry about it?
And there have been some inquiries as to the Leadership feat from my players. Are there possibilities pre-written in the future chapters or will I need to plan on creating non-plot tied npcs for this purpose?
Don't worry about the thaumaturge class. It is a kind of a demon lord cleric, used from a Green Ronin book called Book of Fiends. Just use the stats as present, that should work fine in then Pathfinder RPG, too.
Shalelu the Elf reappears in Chapter 3 and is statted up at exactly the right level so she can be a prospective cohort, and I'm sure some other NPCs can be drafted as well with just a little work (rangers in Chapter 3, or even some of the villains could be reformed along the way...).
Like Zaister said, you can use the stats as they are but if you really feel like 'pathfinderizing' her, you can always make her a cleric with the demon subdomain (from the APG) instead of chaos.
As for the smuggler tunnels, it's true that the description can be a bit confusing. Being a visual person, I've followed the description closely and made myself a map of the tunnels under Sandpoint. Feel free to check it out here
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Getting ready to running RotRL, and I have a few questions...my sincere apologies for asking a couple questions that Im sure are already in here someplace, but I really dont wanna look through 10+ pages of posts:
1. What is the recommened point buy for this (or any really) AP?
2. We are going to play this in PF, and since RotRL is in 3.5 format, I was wondering if there was anyplace I could find something to tell me what all I need to convert, so I can make sure to keep it as balanced as possible.
3. What xp progression does this AP use? Since its in 3.5, Id assume the 3.5 one, but if I convert it to PF, should I still use the fast pregression, or use the medium one??
Thanks in advance!
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1. What is the recommened point buy for this (or any really) AP?
2. We are going to play this in PF, and since RotRL is in 3.5 format, I was wondering if there was anyplace I could find something to tell me what all I need to convert, so I can make sure to keep it as balanced as possible.
3. What xp progression does this AP use? Since its in 3.5, Id assume the 3.5 one, but if I convert it to PF, should I still use the fast pregression, or use the medium one??
Thanks in advance!
Firstly, Good luck! This thing is quite fun to run.
1) 15 is the usual recommendation I believe though for the 3.5 I am not solidly sure that is correct.
2) Well I rebuild my encounters so I can have them on a writable sheet since I didn't get the PDF's of this. You can run it with as little as just calculating the CMB/CMD's and adjusting HPs a little or you can go my route and build from scratch (though anything right from the Bestiary you can just use the new entries for)
2a) These are the adjustments I use when rebuilding for the Pathfinder rules experience.
Anything with class levels I add 1 level to(but don't change the CR)
adjust all non Monk/Fighter type HD to match the new HD.
add the extra feat(s) trying to keep in mind the build.
don't really bother to change skills, other than to adjust to the new skill format (perception in place of Spot/Listen) unless the build screams for skills. Rogue types that sort of thing.
For Non class builds (beasts, undead etc) if I can't just grab the new version from the Bestiary then I give it the Simple Advanced Template for free (ie no CR increase)
Another note here. Use Xanesha as written (or even lesser). The last thing she needs is help...
3) Well we have been told we should use the Fast Chart for 3.5 stuff. Here is an odd thought for you though, there is nothing saying you can't use the old 3.5 chart. Just the XP line of course. You should use the Feat progression by level from the Corebook.
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I know its already been mentioned in here, but I think the link is broken cause it was so long ago.
I was hoping someone had a list or even just an idea of NPCs who are going to have important roles in the other parts of the RotRL AP, so I can make sure that they dont get killed by the players, etc.
I'm thinking of going through Burnt Offerings and converting it all to Pathfinder, maybe tweaking encounters appropriately. Before I dive into that, though, I thought I'd ask: has anyone else done this (and made it available)?
- Niilo
Not sure if any conversions are in this thread, but there is a lot of material in it for other uses. Maps, handouts, and such. You will need to look thru all of the pages, but I am sure you get some use out of it.
You can find some conversions here:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/fan-conversions/paizo-adventure-paths/pf-0 1-burnt-offerings
More are being added at the moment, I think. But Burnt Offerings is pretty well catered for.
You can find some conversions here:
More are being added at the moment, I think. But Burnt Offerings is pretty well catered for.
Add in quite a few of the monsters have been converted in Bestiary 2. If not there, then in the above link mentioned.
You can find some conversions here:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/fan-conversions/paizo-adventure-paths/pf-0 1-burnt-offerings
More are being added at the moment, I think. But Burnt Offerings is pretty well catered for.
Thanks!
Hi! I'm a brand-spanking new GM, with a group of 4 players who have never roleplayed before. I'd like to know how to best approach the setup for this AP- I'll be using those conversions, assorted forum fluff things(like the festival games), and wanted to know if I should change character creation in any way. I was thinking of using the SA monk fix, and allowing anything all the splatbook things, with me holding veto power.
I figured that it'd be a good idea to run the Master of the Fallen Fortress first, as a tutorial, and have the players figure out what sort of character they'd like whilst playing that, then me finding the most fitting class and archetype to their concept.
Are the Paper Minis any good, or should I just use book art to make counters?
Do I need to read all 6 modules before I begin? I've read Burn Offerings front to back and a good chunk of the Skinshaw Murders
Any tips for things like handling combat, game-breaking character builds, etc?
Hi! I'm a brand-spanking new GM, with a group of 4 players who have never roleplayed before. I'd like to know how to best approach the setup for this AP- I'll be using those conversions, assorted forum fluff things(like the festival games), and wanted to know if I should change character creation in any way. I was thinking of using the SA monk fix, and allowing anything all the splatbook things, with me holding veto power.
I figured that it'd be a good idea to run the Master of the Fallen Fortress first, as a tutorial, and have the players figure out what sort of character they'd like whilst playing that, then me finding the most fitting class and archetype to their concept.
Are the Paper Minis any good, or should I just use book art to make counters?
Do I need to read all 6 modules before I begin? I've read Burn Offerings front to back and a good chunk of the Skinshaw Murders** spoiler omitted **
Any tips for things like handling combat, game-breaking character builds, etc?
A whole batch of new players? Colour me jealous.
For a group of new players, I'd imagine the splatbooks would be a bit overwhelming. Were I you, I'd stick with core only. Why you're worried about game-breaking builds is a bit of a mystery to me... I've yet to see a new player who hasn't needed a good deal of help in this regard... You'd be surprised how effective most core classes are without the extra bookwork. Things have come a long way since 3.5... Just nudge your PCs towards staples like Improved Initiative, Power Attack and Weapon Specialisation on your fighter, and watch the gobbo's drop.
For character creation, there's the feat options presented in the player's guide, which you could give to your players for free. These, however, aren't particularly... flavourful, and varisian tattoo is head and shoulders above the rest. Instead? There's some fabulous character trait threads on this board. (Such as THIS ONE.) Find one of them and adapt what you like. It's what I did for my game, and my PCs have tied in to the overall plot beautifully. I'll round you up a link in a minute. AH. HERE IT IS.
If you plan on running a module first, I really really REALLY can't reccomend We Be Goblins enough. It makes for an excellent lead in to RotR with a subtle change or two, is fairly easy on your players and will really throw them in the deep end when it comes to roleplaying (and they'll love you for it. Goblins are a lot of fun.) It's free on the paizo store, so give it a read through.
As for the paper mini's... well... I rather like the Goblin ones myself, but the rest?
Yeah. Can't say I'm a fan, stick with the book art.
Hope this helps, mate. Be sure to post on these boards if you've any more questions. Folks on this board are really helpful.
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I posted this question in another thread, but it might be more appropriate here:
Is the fact that Nualia burned the church with Fr. Tobyn inside understood by the general public? By that, I mean, do they understand it to have been a murder-suicide, or do the people of Sandpoint consider her to be an innocent victim?
Thanks.
I posted this question in another thread, but it might be more appropriate here:
Is the fact that Nualia burned the church with Fr. Tobyn inside understood by the general public? By that, I mean, do they understand it to have been a murder-suicide, or do the people of Sandpoint consider her to be an innocent victim?
Thanks.
IIRC, no. In fact, as I read it, not only did they not know she set the fire, they think she died in the fire as well.
I don't recall any specifics about whether or not a body was recovered and attributed to Nualia, but I don't see it as a problem for either of two reasons:
1) everyone in town was so superstitious about her (cutting her hair, touching her to cure warts, etc) that any lack of body was just "proof" of her divine nature (she just "ascended"); or
2) she dug up a body out back and put it in her bed before going all Pyro on the place.
Creative Director
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That's my understanding as well.
It does raise a question: was there a body that got misidentified? If not, then how'd they think she was dead? And if yes, then whose body?
Speaking for myself, I'd consider patching this by saying that everyone knows Nualia survived, but maimed -- one arm burned nearly off! -- and institutionalized. As far as anyone in town knows, the poor thing is still under special care down in Magnimar. Such a tragedy!
Doug M.
The fire that burnt down the old church pretty much destroyed it all. The remains left behind were little more than bones. As a result, Nualia's body was indeed misidentified. When the fire burnt the place down, Father Tobyn, several acolytes, and a few visiting priests and pilgrims were in the building. The only people who knew exactly how many visitors were in the building at the time were the acolytes and Father Tobyn... they died as well, so when no sign of Nualia was evident in the days and weeks and months after, they assumed she died in the fire as well. Partially because that was the easiest, and partially because the townsfolk didn't really know she was anything other than a shut-in at that point and thus the very idea that she'd be out and about never really crossed their minds.
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It appears as though my group is going to consist of two male dwarves, a female elf, and a fourth who is yet to be undetermined but I imagine will be a female character.
How does the Shopkeep's Daughter scenario play out in this situation? I don't see Shayliss Vinder having the hots for a dwarf (nor do I see the rest of Sandpoint's female population swooning over a dwarf). I suppose I could make Shayliss a boy (Shaylyn perhaps?), but that strikes me as a bit repetitive considering Foxglove will be swooning after one of the female characters. Also, I don't see a rough and tough shop keeper flying off into a frenzy when he catches his son trying to defile a female town hero in his basement.
Has anyone else run into a similar situation? What do you guys think?
You could always make Shayliss be indescrimenent in her choice of sexual partner.
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Yeah, I thought of that too. The only problem I see with that is that the description of the encounter indicates that a lot of the women in the town are fawning over this hero and Shayliss steps in before someone else has a chance. While I could see Shayliss being indescriminate, I don't think I could justify the entire female population of Sandpoint without damaging verisimilitude.
I suppose I could cut out the other women entirely and just have Shayliss drop the hints.
Twigs: +1000.
If your comfortable with it, sexual preference is an easy thing to change on the fly. No-one says the women in town can't have a thing for short, bearish men; be they human or dwarf or otherwise ;). Honestly for this encounter I'd run with whatever seems the most amusing; it's comic gold for a good roleplayer no matter how it shakes out. For extra points, maybe Shayliss and Foxglobe go after the same PC! Scandalous!
TLDR, my advise would be to worry less about gender/race/etc and more about what player would have the most fun with this.
I apologize in advance if this has already been covered in the 400+ Posts so far: My group has just cleared out A17 in the Glassworks and the halfling rogue just snuck down the stairs behind A16 to investigate. I read the following pages repeatedly now, but I can not figure out what should keep the little guy from going all the way into the Catacombs of Wrath (he could well make the DC for the secret door in A23). And, isn't that kind of an important place for later on, and not really something I would like him to stumble into THAT early in the adventure?
Tsuto?? Argh! I completely forgot about him. We are playing this online, forum based, and with the sometimes daylong spans of waiting for someone to post, stuff like that happens. Alright, moving on.
What is the intended, built-in safeguard here? I really really feel like I am missing something important.
I don't think there is one. If they do stuff out of order then it will be difficult for them, but not disastrous.
Hmm... alright, then I will let them run around down there and just see where things go, I guess.
Hey, new to the forums with a questions about the AP. So my group are in the Catacombs of Wrath having JUST dispatched Erylium...level one and it was near thing. They are currently trying to deal with the runewell...but being human beings they've thrown me for a bit of a loop. They aren't doing anything described in the path. This shouldn't surprise me, but it does and that's why I am here.
Is the runewell considered an artifact? I ask this because they are trying to 'break' it by going at the stone around it with a pickaxe. Now by all rights this should work in breaking the structure if nothing else, but will it blow up in their faces or just just have the 'wrath water flow into the cracks? Another one is getting stones to fill up the thing. They are trying to make sure no one else uses it and I get that, but not expecting this I am trying to figure out how to take it. If they overflow the water will that stop it as well? I am inclined to say no because this well was made by a POWERFUL magic user like a million years ago (I know Thassillon wasn't quite that long ego but I like to embelish sometimes). I would think if it overflowed it would carry the magic with it, no?
So now that I have babbled on, can anyone help? I went over the thread and didn't find anything fitting my situation. If I missed it I'm sorry to ask an already posed question, but I am having some trouble and was hoping for a little guidance ^_^.
Should I have a backlash ready for them breaking the runewell? Could they even break it?
Well, I'd say moving the "wrathwater" (I wonder if I could market that as an energy drink?) doesn't cause it to lose power, so if they drop stones in it or break the cistern they are simply displacing it somewhere else, not actually removing the threat. You could highlight this by having some spill over the floor thanks to their efforts, and splash on them, with resultant effect. They still need to remove the power from it to remove the threat.
Also, your party faced Erylium at level one? Do you have a particularly large party? Have you been tracking experience? Because the APL before entering the Catacombs of Wrath should be 2.
No I was tracking it. They were level one. Only a party of four (Barabarian, Bard, Cleric, and Alchemist). I followed all the cr ratings and such. First session was the raid. second got them into the glassworks - they went straight for the goblins and then managed to take out Tsuto in one hit (one goblin made it away to warn him and when they found him the Barb's first hit was a crit with an Earthbreaker). They found the catacombs and descended. Took on the sinspawn and managed to meander right into the cathedral. I know one of the reasons they beat her was because I totally spazed and forgot about her DR so she actually took more damage then was meant to. (First bigbad in this system >_<) However. Once they got her in a net the barbarian could do enough damage eventually. I think if I had remembered the DR it would probably have been a TPK. But they are level now.
If they had gone the other way they would have faced her at level two anyway. Oh well, whats done is done and I am just trying to deal with the fallout. Thanks for the help.
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When I ran the Catacombs, I placed a secret door between the chapel of Lamashtu and the Cathedral of Wrath, with a very high Perception DC. I also placed a much-easier-to-find secret door in the ceiling of the Scribbler's chamber that led to a passageway that led to another secret door in the northern closet in the Cathedral of Wrath.
I did this because I wanted my party to go through all of the Catacombs before they got to the Cathedral, and I KNEW that they'd definitely march straight in to the Cathedral otherwise.
Dunno if it has been already asked or not, but I've got two questions related to Catacombs of Wrath;
1. Among other things, my party found that black tome from 'zero-gravity' meditation chamber. My question is - in what language is it written? My party doesn't have many additional languages, so for now nobody could understand it. They gave it to Ilsoari for now (met him at Curious Goblin) for research. I'm not sure if he should get any information about this tome to the party, and above all - what should be written in that book (AP says only it's about Abyss...).
2. Should Father Zantus recognize the star symbol from the tome held by the red statue? If so, how much should he know about it or how much could he research in 2-3 days. As being a cleric, he could communicate with someone outside of Sandpoint for information really easily, right?