Here's an odd question. If a player takes the Trait Merchant Family, does that mean she or he is able to sell gems, jewelry, and other such items for 10% greater than the given value? Or does that only apply to used equipment like stuff taken off corpses and magic items?
|
Merchant Family: You are related to one of the four noble families from Magnimar who founded theMercantile League of Sandpoint. You either grew upin Magnimar as a cousin in the Valdemar or Deverin family or were born and raised in Sandpoint. Education in running a business and years of looking after the family enterprise have given you a knack for trade. You increase the gp limit of any settlement by 20% and can
resell items at an additional 10% over the amount of gp you normally would get from selling off treasure.
My reading points towards yes. I'm sure that those 100gp pearls that the party sells are resold for a higher price elsewhere, so getting an additional 10gp isn't that big a deal in the long run. Basically, they're really good at getting the best deals.
Guys, someone already asked this but got no answer, so here I go again. How common is any knowledge about the Foxglove Mannor? I've got two pcs that already have been in Sandpoint, even living a couple of months there, so seems logical that they know about it.
So the only thing I could thought of is that the common knowledge to be only about the curse on the family, and maybe that the Misgivings name is something already forgotten that only the elderly recall.
I ask this here cause I'm sure you'll come up with a lot better ideas.
Thank you!!
Nyn
There's information on lore on the manor.
A simple DC 12 local knowledge check says "it is over 80 years old and is the seat of the Foxglove family, but after a tragedy tere a couple decades ago, no one's lived there and it's haunted." (Summed up)
DC 15 would link Foxglove with "Misgivings" which is what the Varisians call it.
DC 20 links Aldern directly to the manor. Thus you may not know he is one of the Foxgloves who actually owns the manor.
Can anyone clarify Nualia's attack bonuses for me?
2(fighter2 bab) + 3(cleric4 bab) + 3(str) +1(sword+1) +1(weapon focus) +2(fury of abyss) = 12, not 10. Same with damage (3str+1 from sword + 2 fury).
It is ether not includes Fury of the Abyss (but it says in description and also says that penalties to AC included) or not incudes Bull Strenght (but includes Cat's Grace, as AC again calculated with it. not sure why one is included and other is not)
Also, about her hp - it seems to include temporary points from False Life, calculated with max on d10 ?
This, or i am very bad at math...
Tsuto is poorly placed. Every time I run this AP, I get the same problem. The guy who is supposed to use mobility as his best defense and tumble all over the battlefield is found in a very tight space with a tight hallway outside and a whole line of heroes waiting to give AoO that he has to avoid.
He becomes landlocked easily and due to lowish AC is torn apart in a meatgrinder quickly. There just isn't enough room to maneuver in a 10x10 room and a narrow hallway.
Anyone have suggestions or solutions?
I put him on a rafter 20 ft above the party. He has partial cover, gets to use his ranged attacks, and when they come near, I had him swinging away on ropes.
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tsuto is poorly placed. Every time I run this AP, I get the same problem. The guy who is supposed to use mobility as his best defense and tumble all over the battlefield is found in a very tight space with a tight hallway outside and a whole line of heroes waiting to give AoO that he has to avoid.
He becomes landlocked easily and due to lowish AC is torn apart in a meatgrinder quickly. There just isn't enough room to maneuver in a 10x10 room and a narrow hallway.
Anyone have suggestions or solutions?
He's located in a sub-optimal location for a reason. In fact, many of the early encounters in Burnt Offerings present foes in non-optimized battles. The goblins spend as much time attacking, for example, as they do fooling around or laughing at each other or doing weird antics. Likewise, Tsuto being in an area where he can't use lots of mobility makes him an easier fight.
This is by design. By making the first 3rd of the adventure or so easier, you give new characters more chances to survive and more chances to become involved. It's no fun to have a character die on the first battle of an Adventure Path, and 1st level characters are kinda fragile. My philosophy: 1st level is the point where a LOT of your character's personality and affectations appear, and if the first 3rd of an adventure gives less risk but more opportunities to build that personality and affectations, the better.
So take care in adjusting things to make the villains tougher. There are plenty of tough fights later in the adventure (with one coming up pretty soon with Erylium). Don't be afraid to let the PCs encounter situations where the deck is stacked in their favor.
Thanks for the response, and what you say makes a lot of sense. I can see him in an open field picking my poor PC's apart (and I AM worried about how they'll deal with Erylium upcoming), it's just a little frustrating that he is gonna get whacked so easily, but I get that he's just means to an end, not the end itself. His clues about Nualia move the story along.
Thanks for explaining. And Tsuto R.I.P....
Unless they capture him. Like my group did. At which point... jailbreak! Heh heh heh... I freed Nualia, Tsuto, AND Lyrie that way, and let the Sheriff shine as he killed Ripnugget (who the PCs let live) during the goblin raid on town to rescue Nualia. And then the Sheriff was cut down by a goblin... only to be saved by a choice Channel Energy (Selective) by the party cleric. (The grump of the group still calls him Sheriff Useless, however.)
So take care in adjusting things to make the villains tougher. There are plenty of tough fights later in the adventure (with one coming up pretty soon with Erylium). Don't be afraid to let the PCs encounter situations where the deck is stacked in their favor.
Wow - people really thought he was easy? I was running him with a 7 person party and he almost TPK'd the group - the adventure assumes everyone is still level 1 when they fight him and he's got a pretty high AC and some very good saves for a 1st level group.
I ended that fight with 3 PC's on the ground - 1 with only 2 hps left, and no party resources left at the end of the fight.
And that was just playing him straight up.
Hmm, Tsuto was pretty ok for my party, as they tried to surround him from both sides he did stunning fist on cleric (as AoO cos cleric cast spell) and then tumbled over fighter, pretty much making a chokepoint so only 1 person can attack him, and others had to shoot into melee. He is pretty screwed if got bad roll on acrobatics check tho.
My party still found Tsuto reasonably challenging, despite him being trapped in the basement. Erylium was really nasty- we lost two characters to her antics last session, but they're going to get some nets, glitterdust, and tanglefoot bags and come back and get her next session- at least that's their plan.
Ok, so no Internet for me last week, so here comes my (late) answer.
Thank you for your answer, tangent! I actually never thought there could be another branch of the Foxglove family, not related to the Manor -or at least, that my players could think that *evil DM laugh*.
There was one little tiny problem with the encounter, James. And that was there was no backup provided in case Tsuto escaped with all his notes. Though admittedly a canny GM would think of something. ;)
Because of some bad dice rolls and a superb bluff roll by Tsuto, he almost walked out on my PCs with all his notes having pretended to have been one of the workers who was drunk on the job and sleeping it off. Last second I figured "backstab kidney punch to the barbarian" and he missed by one. Meaning he hit... was felt... but the armor absorbed the blow.
I could have had him walk out of there and they'd never have had a clue 'til they found Ameiko. ^^;; Ah well. It worked out.
I had the merchant offer a reward for Shadowmist's return on the Rusty Dragon noticeboard and he is now a contact that the party has in Magnimar. Using UC, I treated saving the horse as a 'profound interaction'.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There was one little tiny problem with the encounter, James. And that was there was no backup provided in case Tsuto escaped with all his notes. Though admittedly a canny GM would think of something. ;)
Because of some bad dice rolls and a superb bluff roll by Tsuto, he almost walked out on my PCs with all his notes having pretended to have been one of the workers who was drunk on the job and sleeping it off. Last second I figured "backstab kidney punch to the barbarian" and he missed by one. Meaning he hit... was felt... but the armor absorbed the blow.
I could have had him walk out of there and they'd never have had a clue 'til they found Ameiko. ^^;; Ah well. It worked out.
Turns out, that's EXACTLY the type of thing the GM is there to do.
The adventure writer Can Not anticipate every single possibility. What if the PCs decide to burn down the Glassworks? What if they end up spending every single moment with Ameiko and never give her a chance to get abducted? What if they just ignore the Glassworks entirely? What if they end up thinking Tsuto's right and join his side?
There's ALL SORTS of ways that the actions of the PCs can disrupt the expected flow of the game, and that's the GM's job to either get them back on track or to roll with things and keep the game going in the new, unexpected direction.
In fact, as technology advances and video games are increasingly able to do most of everything a tabletop game can do, this flexibility afforded by the GM's presence is more and more becoming one of the GREATEST advantages tabletop gaming has over video gaming. It is, perhaps, the single greatest strength of tabletop gaming.
What I'm saying is that in a case like this, we provide all the tools we can for the GM, so that the GM can then fix it when something like this happens.
I must admit, I'd absolutely love to see a computer game version of Runelords, similar to how Atari did one for Temple of Elemental Evil (which is one of my favorite RPG computer games to be honest). =^-^=
And yes, that is what the GM is there for. A good GM knows how to roll with the punches. Novice GMs sometimes need a little extra help. (And for that matter, sometimes older GMs who are getting back into the swing of things can sometimes use a few hints themselves. ^^)
Because I described him gathering up his notes. Unfortunately, die rolls favored him and not them (at least so far as Bluff vs. Sense Motive). So the party was fairly helpless to act until at the last moment I pulled out the Random Die of Fate, rolled a 3, (with a 4-6 being walk out without attacking them) and had him punch the barbarian in the back. And miss (by 1). Even then he almost got away (except for those meddling kids!) until a spell to the back and a crossbow bolt took him down.
Sometimes the dice can be an impediment. Never let them get in the way of a good game.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A quick question about something I am a little unsure on.
RotR Anniversary Edition.
Q: When monsters are listed with their page numbers in the Bestiary then list attacks underneath with other weapons are those the only weapons they have or do they retain their original equipment as well?
Eg. Goblins during the Swallowtail Festival have dogslicers listed as their attacks, do they retain their shortbows from their original stats?
|
Creative Director
|
A quick question about something I am a little unsure on.
RotR Anniversary Edition.
Q: When monsters are listed with their page numbers in the Bestiary then list attacks underneath with other weapons are those the only weapons they have or do they retain their original equipment as well?
Eg. Goblins during the Swallowtail Festival have dogslicers listed as their attacks, do they retain their shortbows from their original stats?
In cases like that, the listed weapons replace the standard weapons for the monster.
|
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd just like to know Nualia's base stats and then add all spell effects and such on my own. I'm confused because some of it seems to be already added and some has not.
Here ya go!
Base stats:
Str 12
Dex 8
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 15
Those stats were modified as follows to get the final stats that appear in the adventure:
Racial Mods: +2 Wis, +2 Cha
Enhancement Mods: +4 Str (bull's strength), +4 Dex (cat's grace)
Level bonus gained at 4th level: +1 Wis
(Her being able to cast cat's grace is an error. Give her a potion of cat's grace to drink instead, and replace her cat's grace spell she's prepared with sound burst.)
More Tsuto questions!
Sandpoint is a complicated and awesome little place, so I apologize if this has been answered before or is obvious and I am just missing it.
Tsuto seems pretty important to the plots going on in Sandpoint, so getting his story right seems pretty critical. I can’t find where it says where/when/how he “returns” to sandpoint. I see that he had a falling out with his “father” at mom’s funeral (4702 AR), at which point Lonjiku almost breaks his jaw. Tsuto goes to Magnimar and hooks up with Nualia. That is where I lose his story. It says he comes back to Blackmail his father (but how long ago? And do the townsfolk know he is around?) The AP states that the glassworks is now a front for him. So did dad give him the glassworks as part of the blackmail? Does Ameiko know that he is back (she would have to if he is running the glassworks….) Kind of confused. Can someone clear this up?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tsuto's been out of Sandpoint since his dad hit him; the town believes he's pretty much either dead or left the region. The blackmailing of his father happened relatively recently—perhaps as soon as only a few days or a couple weeks before the adventure begins. No one other than Lonjiku knows Tsuto's back in town. Ameiko doesn't find out until she gets his letter after the adventure's well underway—the shock of the letter is partially why she goes out to meet him without telling anyone. His dad didn't give Tsuto the glassworks; he's just using it because he knows about the hidden entrances below. Up until the Glassworks incident detailed in the adventure, the glassworks is still running normal with Lonjiku in charge.
I may have missed it, but where did Shadowmist come from? Is it just some random horse the goblins found or is some NPC looking for it?
Is there any prior mention of if before the PCs can see the tracks dragging the horse in the nettle tunnels?
If memory serves he was taken from one of the caravans that either recently arrived or left Sandpoint. My memory may be a little foggy on that, however.
That being said, it should be easy enough for you to work out whatever story you'd like for it and it wouldn't ruin or hinder any past or future content in the A.P. I've read posts from campaigns where adventurers returned it to a caravan in Sand Point...others where a Paladin PC trained it to be his mount etc.
I agree with Kayland; Shadowmist is there specifically to add roleplaying possibilities. My group returned to Sandpoint to try to find Shadowmist's owner, and I just let them do the legwork to find out that the owner had perished in the raid. The party paladin adopted him for a while, until the bard's Phantom Steeds were just too fast, and she then 'donated' Shadowmist to Daviren Hosk with a large stipend (500 gp) to take care of him indefinitely.
Rumor has it that now they're finishing up the AP, the paladin's pondering taking Shadowmist back, as she might not be able to rely on the bard and the sorcerer to get her wherever she needs to be any more...
My party didn't have to do any legwork - the party's gnome rogue just used speak with animals on him. He let them know that the goblins killed his rider and masters.
Also, warhorses speak in the third person. I figured you all would like to know that.
Speaking in third person is never okay. Instant sign of "don't trust it in a 9 hour movie, kill it now."
I have two questions, which I've tried to search the messageboards for, but not come up with any clear answers.
Firstly, there are several encounters in the early part of Burnt Offerings where NPCs are present - Father Zantus during the initial goblin assault, Sheriff Hemlock during the investigation of the desecrated vault, Aldern Foxglove during the boar hunt - and yet stats are not presented for the NPCs, and the description and CR of the encounters seems to indicate that the PCs should deal with the foes on their own. How have people handled these situations?
Secondly, if the PCs agree to go on the boar hunt, Aldern buys each PC a mount - are these gifts for the PCs to keep after the hunt? If so, what would be the typical mount gifted - a light horse at a cost of 75 gp? On the other hand, if the PCs don't go on the hunt, he gives them a 50 gp reward - is that for the whole party, or per PC?
Greetings, fellow traveller.
I've handled these early encounters as written, i. e. I've given the PCs the full spot light with the NPCs in the background ready to help (father Zantus with a heal, Sherriff Hemlock ready to engage in melee etc.)
Aldern expenses are per PC--each one gets a horse to keep, each one PC is awarded 50gp. I've found the first half of the book quite sparse with treasure (not that I mind) and this definitely presents a nice opportunity to somewhat remedy this.
Ruyan.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In the case of Sheriff Hemlock, I assume that he would be spiriting Kendra Deverin to safety first, with the intent of organizing an actual resistance once she's safe. It'd be awfully damn irresponsible to let the Mayor of the town get killed while you're running off to fight some goblins somewhere else.
Father Zantus is unarmed, unarmored and doesn't strike me as much of a fighter, so he's probably just gone total defense. The only people who can take care of things at Cathedral Square are the PCs, who happen to be at the right place at the right time.
Aldern is a bit of a fop, and his role should be support. Fighting a boar's not an especially dangerous fight, so a party of four shouldn't have too much trouble. His best contribution would probably be assisting attack or AC.
As for Aldern's reward, yes, the mounts and equipment he buys for them are theirs to keep. If they don't go, I'd assume 50gp per person - likely what they would receive if they sell off the light horse, boar spear and crossbow.
Fun fact: my players keep pointing out to me how "the stupid horses are slowly ruining us due to the costs for stabling them at the Goblin Squash Stables" but nobody has yet come up with the idea of simply selling them to Hosk...
Ruyan.
Unrelated question while I prepare for tomorrow's session:
Has anybody done something with Delek (N's lover) after he left her?
Ruyan.
In the instances where NPCs are along when there is combat, I simply had them hang back, ready to assist if needed. None of the my players had an issue with that. (Then again, there is the tale of at least one GM on the boards who didn't have Hemlock do anything at the desecrated vault, resulting in his players referring to him as "Sheriff Useless". So it may vary by group.)
Heh. That would be my group. :) Admittedly, it's only one player (who's just about the most vocal of the group and plays up the "crotchety not-old-but-might-as-well-be man" routine) but it's gotten to be just about a theme. (He also calls the half-orc Barbarian scholar "Pigmonster" - surprisingly, the player of said half-orc said "Lucian just considers it a term of endearment" so any potential conflict over this just never occurred. ^^;;
It's a good reason why to have some level of stats for him available... and a miniature as well. After all, if he's visible and on your charts you won't forget about him (or other NPCs). Otherwise out of sight, out of mind, and ending up "Useless" ^^;;
I had the sheriff and the priest intervene when needed - the sheriff helped fighting the two skeletons at the tomb (my PC had a hard time with those), and the priest healed them more than once. At level 2, getting 2d6 party healing is a lot. So, the NPCs can be useful. They asked Ameiko to help them exploring the smugglers tunnels, but after being just rescued from under the glassworks, she had other things to do.
But it really seems that there is not much money to be found - my PCs were not able to afford decent armor so far - best AC is 16 at the moment, a dwarven fighter with a shield. So, the rewards from Aldern are needed.
|
|
If you really want to get mean, have bits of Delek be used to make The Scarecrow.
And yes, rewards in the first book are very light up until the Glass Works. Ameiko can reward the party for her rescue, and that money can be used to outfit themselves before they look into the Catacombs. The wealth found there can outfit the party before heading to Thistletop, and Thistletop is actually a treasure trove.
hey there..
so my party is just about ready to begin the rune lord path..
and to 2 things have got me scratching my head..
first of the class works. all though not impossible to draw up on paper..
i kind of wonder why (WHY) they would draw it at sutch a awkward angle..
and second and this really gets me scrathing my head and other stuff for that matter... is how did u guys draw out the land part (not the island) of thistletop???
this might seem easy for u veteran dm's but this got me a bit... well grumpy
all advice welcome
cheers
Well, first I would recommend the use of proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. While I know capitalization is considered not to be chic these days, it does serve a proper place in helping identify when a sentence begins (as does proper use of periods). Also "you" is a far better word than "u" as let's face it, this is three letters and blithely using "u" instead shows considerable laziness. ;)
The Glassworks (it took me a little bit before I correctly identified what you were talking about) likely uses the 45 degree "slant" because it allows for more interesting tactics. If a player is forced into a "half" square because of a wall, they should suffer a penalty to combat and defense. Likewise it allows the goblins to close the distance quicker.
As for the "land part" of Thistletop, could you specify further what you are talking about?
im not from a english speaking country!!!
so to make it clear what i mean:
i still think it was a bad idea to print the classworks that way( map layout)making it harder to draw.. just move goblins closer if u want them to close in faster! well just my opinion, guess im the only one who thinks this..
as for thistletop ,what i meant was the bramble/wooded bit before the island on the map on page 41.
both the glasswork map and the mentioned bit of thistletop map are in my opinion a bit tricky/hard to draw out on a peice of a4..
and i just wanted to hear how any you guys handled it.. any tips.. i might just be over thinking it
taggent what do you mean by this: "If a player is forced into a "half" square because of a wall, they should suffer a penalty to combat and defense"
is there a rule on movement ive overlooked??
im sorry if i was unclear and my grammer/spelling isnt up to forum standard..
all the best mark
Ah. I was unaware that capitalization was an English language invention.
The bramble/wood is supposed to be a natural maze. As such it will not have straight lines (nature very rarely uses straight lines unless you've a situation of geological cleavage with specific types of landforms). While it might not be "easy" to draw, there is one thing to remember: you don't need to be perfect. If your depiction of the map is "close enough" then it will suit the game.
Here's the rule in question about half-sized spaces:
Squeezing: In some cases, you may have to squeeze into or through an area that isn't as wide as the space you take up. You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space, you take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to AC.
When a Large creature (which normally takes up 4 squares) squeezes into a space that's 1 square wide, the creature's miniature figure occupies 2 squares, centered on the line between the 2 squares. For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into.
A creature can squeeze past a creature while moving but it can't end its movement in an occupied square.
To squeeze through or into a space less than half your space's width, you must use the Escape Artist skill. You can't attack while using Escape Artist to squeeze through or into a narrow space, you take a –4 penalty to AC, and you lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.
Rob H.
Considering the AP says she worked with the Skinsaw Cult to hunt Delek down and kill him, I'm not sure what more there is to do with him.
My bad, must've overlooked that passage. Thanks!
Ruyan.
hey there..
so my party is just about ready to begin the rune lord path..
and to 2 things have got me scratching my head..first of the class works. all though not impossible to draw up on paper..
i kind of wonder why (WHY) they would draw it at sutch a awkward angle..and second and this really gets me scrathing my head and other stuff for that matter... is how did u guys draw out the land part (not the island) of thistletop???
this might seem easy for u veteran dm's but this got me a bit... well grumpy
all advice welcome
cheers
Well, one thing you could do is prepare the maps in advance, cut out each room/section and reveal it to the players as they enter said room/section.
Another thing: just ignore the angle at which it is drawn and turn it by 45°; some of what Tangent101 described (tactical options etc.) might get lost in the process--I wouldn't mind; esp. if the players just started playing PF.Same goes for the maze.
Remember that you as GM have total control over what your group experiences/gets to see--if it seems too complicated/slows down combat/doesn't contribute to having fun while playing, amend it to a simpler/more fun version.
Ruyan.